Student Suspended After Disarming Gunman In Florida, Victim Says Suspension Is ‘Crazy’

In Florida, a student was suspended after disarming a gunman, and the strange part is that the basic facts are not in dispute here.

According to a local Fox affiliate, the student suspended after disarming a gunman indeed engaged in some pretty commendable, brave actions — and was summarily punished for reluctance to put himself further in harm’s way.

While there is no guarantee lives were saved by the student suspended after disarming a gunman, there is also seemingly no doubt that the teen seems to have stepped up and prevented the possibility of a shooting in a pretty high-stress situation.

The station reports:

“A 16-year-old Cypress Lake High School student, who wrestled a loaded revolver away from a teen threatening to shoot, is being punished… The student grappled the gun away from the 15-year-old suspect on the bus ride home Tuesday after witnesses say he aimed the weapon point blank at another student and threatened to shoot him.”

Other students now say the student suspended for disarming a gunman seems to have genuinely defused a tense situation, one in which it appears that escalation may very well have been deadly — one fellow classmate present on the bus where the altercation and subsequent disarming occurred said:

“I think he was really going to shoot him right then and there… Not taking no pity.”

None of the kids involved in the incident have been identified in media reports, but both the student who disarmed the gunman and the apparent target of the armed student have explained the events they say led to the suspension of the teen who stepped in.

While the student suspended for disarming the gunman was deemed “uncooperative” by school officials at Cypress Lake High School in Florida, the kid who didn’t get shot sees his apparent savior in a different light — he explains:

“That’s crazy… I would have probably been the next murder and counting in the city [had the student not disarmed the gunman.]”

According to Cypress Lake High School Principal Tracy Perks, the suspension came not because the student intervened, but because he was reluctant to report the presence of a gun due to fear of retalation. Perks reportedly fumed:

“There are other circumstances involved in this situation and… NO students were suspended/punished for helping disarm another student of a firearm.”

An official school statement about the incident and suspensions read:

“The District has completed its investigation regarding an incident that took place on February 26, 2013, regarding multiple Cypress Lake High School students. The District is unable to comment regarding the specific disciplinary measures taken against specific students. However, it must be noted that during the initial investigation conducted by the administration of Cypress Lake High School the students involved refused to cooperate with school authorities regarding the events that occurred. As a result, appropriate disciplinary actions were taken at that time. Subsequently, law enforcement along with school officials have acquired additional information that has provided the complete picture of what occurred that day. Certain students involved have been and will be disciplined in accordance with that additional information consistent with the Code of Student Conduct and Florida law. The District will be making no further comment regarding this matter.”

Do you think the student suspended for disarming a gunman should have been punished for “not snitching?”