BELLE GLADE, Fla. — A Belle Glade man was arrested Wednesday after school police said he had a gun on campus and was involved in an argument with a parent, prompting an elementary school to be locked down.
According to a probable cause statement, a school police officer was dispatched to Glade View Elementary after the principal said the school was on a code-red lockdown due to parents fighting in the parking lot.
The officer said when he arrived at the main office of the school he heard several adults speaking and heard them mention that a gun was present. The officer asked them where the gun was located.
At that time, the police report said Duane Blake, 27, of Belle Glade, said he had a gun in his vehicle.
The officer and Blake walked to a Kia sedan that was in the school parking lot and said the weapon was inside a black pouch on the floor of the passenger's seat.
The officer said he saw the handgun inside the pouch and took it to a weapon vault located in his police patrol vehicle, securing it.
Police then interviewed one of the other parents involved in the altercation outside of the school.
A mother said she came to the school after an incident involving her daughter, who is a student at the school.
During the altercation, she said Blake placed his hand on a black pouch that he was wearing across the front of his body and indicated that he had a gun.
The probable cause statement said Blake placed his hand on the pouch and began to unzip it while threatening to shoot the mother.
An employee at the school told police that she had been speaking to a group of parents in the parking lot about an altercation that had occurred between students. That's when she saw Blake place his hand on the pouch and unzip it while he was having the altercation with the mother.
During the argument, police said school video surveillance video showed Blake retrieving the black pouch from his vehicle and placing it around his upper torso.
As the mother was escorted to her vehicle by staff members, police said video showed Blake following the mother, her child and another man into the parking lot.
Based on the evidence, police arrested Blake and took him to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office West Detention Facility.
Blake faces multiple charges including possession of a weapon on school property, aggravated assault with a firearm and violation of a concealed firearm.
Online jail records show that Blake posted bail and was released from custody Thursday afternoon.
