Fla. student who disarmed gunman suspended

FORT MYERS, Fla. — A teenager who wrestled a handgun away from a peer has been suspended from his high school because he was “uncooperative” with school officials and police investigating the incident.

WFTX-TV did not name the 16-year-old who attends Cypress Lake High School. The station reported the teen grabbed a revolver from a 15-year-old on a bus ride home after witnesses said he aimed the gun at another student and threatened to shoot him.

The student told the TV station he feel’s there’s “no doubt” that he saved a life by disarming the gunman.

Witnesses said the 15-year-old, a football player, had a .22 caliber RG-14 Revolver and threatened a teammate because he had been arguing with a friend.

“I think he was really going to shoot him right then and there,” the 16-year-old told WFTX. “He was going to shoot him point blank.”

The student said he and others tacked the football player and wrestled away the gun. The next day he was suspended.

According to a referral from the school, he was suspended for being part of an “incident” where a weapon was present and given an “emergency suspension.”

The teen’s mother said he did not cooperate with local police because he was scared.

Officials with the school district and the principal of Cypress Lake High have refused to comment.

The suspect, who has not been named because he is a minor, was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill and possession of a firearm on school property.

The sheriff’s office said the investigation is ongoing and the charges are “based on our findings at this time.”

The 16-year-old’s mother said she is proud of her son.

“Those kids had to fight for their lives,” she said. “All the kids that was involved in this they should have a pat on their backs because they did the right thing to save someone from burying their child.”