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A Florida high school student wrestled a loaded gun away from another teen on the bus ride home this week and was slapped with a suspension in return.
The 16-year-old Cypress Lake High student in Fort Myers, Fla. told WFTX-TV there was “no doubt” he saved a life after grappling for the loaded .22 caliber revolver being aimed point-blank at another student on Tuesday.
“I think he was really going to shoot him right then and there,” said the suspended student, not identified by WFTX because of safety concerns. “Not taking no pity.”
The student said the suspect, a football player, threatened to shoot a teammate because he had been arguing with his friend.
Authorities confirmed to WFTX the weapon was indeed loaded, and the arrest report stated the suspect — not named because he is a minor — was “pointing the gun directly” at the other student and “threatening to shoot him.”
That’s when, the teen told the station, he and two others tackled the suspect and wrestled the gun away. The next day, all three were suspended.
“How they going to suspend me for doing the right thing?” he asked.
The school’s referral slip said he was given an “emergency suspension” for being involved in an “incident” with a weapon. Lee County School District spokesman Alberto Rodriguez said in a statement that “If there is a potentially dangerous situation, Florida law allows the principal to suspend a student immediately pending a hearing.”
“Those kids had to fight for their lives,” the mother of the suspended teen 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.”
The suspended teen is allowed to go back to school Monday.
Meanwhile, the student accused of pointing the weapon has been charged only with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon “without intent” to kill.
The sheriff’s office said the investigation is ongoing and that the charges are “based on our findings at this time.”
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