Police presence was even stronger at Port St. Lucie High School late last week after a 17-year-old student was found with a loaded, stolen gun and a taser in his backpack.
The Port St. Lucie Police Department increased its presence at the school as a public service, the agency said, “and not due to any facts that would indicate that there is a plan for violence at the school.”
The junior, identified as Tavaress Lashun Smith Jr., told investigators a friend had given him the gun and that he believed it to be stolen. He also told investigators that, while he had handled the firearm, he did not intentionally bring it to school, according to police records.
The teen faces multiple felony charges including possession of a firearm on school property, possession of a weapon on school property, and grand theft of a firearm. He was taken to the St. Lucie Regional Juvenile Detention Center.
“At this time we do not have any reason to believe that Smith was working in concert with other individuals and we have not uncovered that there was or is a plan to cause further crimes at the school,” Police spokesman Master Sgt. Frank Sabol wrote in a public statement.
Smith Jr.’s backpack was searched at the school and was found to be holding a 9mm Taurus handgun with a loaded magazine containing 12 rounds, a second magazine with one round, 57 loose rounds of ammunition, a taser, two necklaces – one silver, the other gold – and 49 pieces of prop movie money in $100 denominations, the arrest report shows.
Released details of the ongoing investigation show that the gun was purchased by a Port St. Lucie resident from the local Bass Pro Shops. The gun owner gave the gun to a friend of his, also a Port St. Lucie resident, who was going to fix the slide on the gun. The friend told investigators he had last seen the gun about a week before the incident.
According to the investigation report, the friend didn’t discover the gun was missing until police called to inquire about it. When investigators told him how they came to have the gun, he told police that Smith Jr. had been over to his home several times to socialize with his kids and family. He told investigators that it was not possible one of his children gave Smith Jr. the gun.
After the investigation is complete the Port St. Lucie Police Department will release the findings of this case.