OKEECHOBEE, Fla. — A 14-year-old boy who had threatened to bring a gun to school was arrested Friday after he showed up on campus wearing an oversized hooded sweatshirt and clinching an object in its front pocket that students believed to be a weapon but was really a plastic bottle, according to the Okeechobee County Sheriff's Office.
The incident led to a lockdown Friday morning at Osceola Middle School.
Sheriff's spokesman Jack Nash said the teenager had told another student that he would bring a gun to school Friday.
Nash said when several students asked the teen if he, in fact, had a gun, the teen tightly gripped the object in his front sweatshirt pocket and said, "Yes."
Those students told school staff, who then notified authorities.
Nash said deputies, along with Okeechobee police, took "swift and immediate" action, placing the school on lockdown and apprehending the student within the first four minutes after being identified.
During questioning, the teen admitted that he had threatened to bring a gun to school and "intentionally made those around him believe the bottle he was gripping was a gun," Nash said.
The object in his pocket was determined to be a small plastic bottle of Lipton iced tea, Nash said.
As a result of the incident, the student was arrested on a felony charge of aggravated assault and a misdemeanor charge of disruption of school proceedings.
