By Howard Cohen, Miami Herald
MIAMI
A 14-year-old Winter Haven (Fla.) Christian School student told police he had been listening to rap music and wanted to feel "powerful" and "cool," according to police.
But his chosen means to feel empowered wound up breaking the law.
[post_ads]Winter Haven police arrested the student on Wednesday after they found a Kimel AP-9 semiautomatic pistol with 11 rounds of ammunition and two knives inside of a backpack that was tucked inside a locker.
Police say he told them the gun belonged to his father and that he had retrieved it from his home the night before school.
No students or staff members were injured and there was never any threat made by the student to harm anyone, police said in a release.
Administrators at the school had found the backpack around 2 p.m. and called police. The student was booked into the Polk County Detention for Juvenile Justice and charged with possession of a firearm on school grounds and two counts of possession of a weapon on school grounds.
"This should hopefully serve as a warning to any student who thinks it's cool to carry a weapon, especially on school grounds," Chief Charlie Bird said in a police release. "There is absolutely no room for 'cool' when it involves any sort of weapon in a school with the recent events our country has endured."
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