Student charged for gun at school

PANAMA CITY — One student faces criminal charges and likely expulsion after he caused another student to bring a gun and ammunition onto a school campus Tuesday, law enforcement and school officials said.

The student, 16-year-old Jahmari Jones of Panama City, put the gun under the seat of a friend’s car. A student saw the gun and reported it to an administrator. The driver of the car, 18-year-old Tyler Irby, gave the administrator his keys and instructions on where to find the gun.

The weapon was a .40-caliber Glock pistol and its serial number had been mostly filed away, according to Bay County Sheriff’s Office records. It was unloaded, but a magazine with bullets inside also was found in the car.

When Jones learned the gun had been discovered he asked to use the restroom and left the school. Bay County Sheriff’s deputies and Panama City Police officers searched for him until about 3 p.m. Wednesday, when police found him in an apartment complex on Frankford Avenue.

Jones was arrested after a brief foot pursuit. He’s charged with bringing a gun onto a school campus, a felony.

“We have no idea what his motivation was,” said Bay Haven Charter Academy Chief Education Officer Tim Kitts said.

Kitts said there will be no criminal charges against Irby, but he will also face a 10-day suspension and a recommendation of expulsion because he knew the gun was there and chose not to report it to school officials.

There’s no excuse for bringing a gun onto a school campus, Kitts said, and the school treats such incidents with great severity.

“Tell me a kid in America today that doesn’t know you don’t bring a gun on campus,” Kitts said. “There’s no messing around with this. … State law is very clear, and we support it 100 percent.”

Kitts said the whole situation was over within five minutes, so there was no need to lockdown the campus, and parents weren’t notified. The incident was a reminder that not even high-performing schools are immune to these kinds of threats, Kitts said.

“It’s unfortunate that some students don’t recognize the severity of the decisions they make and the consequences of those decisions,” Kitts said.