8-Year-Old Lauded For Reporting Boy Who Brought Gun To School

HUDSON, FL — The Pasco County Sheriff's Office are hailing an 8-year-old Hudson Elementary School students with preventing a possible tragedy after a classmate brought a loaded handgun to school on Thursday.

Third-grader Blake Johnson said he was in the bathroom at the school with another 8-year-old around 1 p.m. when the boy pulled a gun out of his backpack and showed it to Johnson.

According to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, Blake said the 8-year-old told him he'd shoot him if he told anyone that he had the gun.

Although frightened by the threat, Johnson said he decided to tell the school security guard anyway.

The security guard is among those hired by Pasco County after a Florida law was passed mandating that security guards be placed in all public schools following the shooting in Parkland.

Pasco County Sheriff's Capt. Chris Beaman said the guard did exactly as he was trained to do. He grabbed the backpack away from the 8-year-old and took him to the principal's office.

But the guard wasn't the only one who did what he was supposed to do, said Beaman. For the past year and a half, the sheriff's office has engaged in a "See something, say something" media campaign to remind students to report suspicious activity to adults.

"A little person did what they were supposed to do," he said. “We as a community are fortunate today, very fortunate, that as a community, everyone did their jobs today."

Johnson said it never occurred to him not to report the incident.

"I knew it was the right thing to do," he said.

Inside the backpack was a loaded 9 mm Sig Sauer semiautomatic pistol.

Beaman said the sheriff's office does not believe the boy intended to use the gun. He simply found it at home and brought it to school to show off. The boy was not arrested but he has been suspended and faces possible expulsion from school.

The sheriff's office is investigating the incident to determine if charges should be brought against the adults who allowed access to the gun.

“We’re trying to find out all the whys?” said Beaman. “Everyone wants to know the whys, and we want to know the whys, too.”