JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Police have released the name and booking photo of a 16-year-old Terry Parker High School student arrested Thursday after a loaded gun was discovered in a classroom.
Thelonious Paschal was charged with possession of a firearm on school property, a third-degree felony.
News4Jax has learned he is being charged as an adult. Bond was to be reviewed at first appearance.
According to the arrest report, the principal called the school resource officer to a classroom, where Paschal was searched. While no gun was found, a search of his locker turned up a gun magazine containing six round. The officer returned to the classroom and found a loaded .380 handgun near where Paschal was sitting.
Police said they also found two gang-related bandanas and a cellphone that displayed a gang-related screen saver.
It was the second time in less than five weeks that a student was arrested for having a loaded gun at Terry Parker. It was the fifth time a gun was found at a Duval County Public School this year.
"I’m really encouraged by the students being motivated to make sure that they don’t have guns in the schools, because they are the ones in each case that are notifying school officials," News4Jax crime and safety analyst Gil Smith said.
No students were threatened or harmed during the incident.
“It’s surprising,” parent Janae Richards said. “I would want to know what the purpose for him bringing it (was) -- to show it off or was he being bullied.”
Smith agreed that more information should be released about the student's motive for bringing the gun to school.
“We are finding out about the weapons in school, but we are not always finding out why, once they sit down and talk to these students, why are they bringing the weapons," Smith said.
Richards, whose daughter is in ninth grade at Terry Parker, said she believes there needs to be more security to keep all the students safe.
“It seems like they need a metal detector, or I see school police all the time, I don’t understand how a firearm got past them,” Richards said.
Officials are asking parents and caregivers to talk with their children and emphasize their role in keeping the city's school campuses safe, and monitor items he or she may bring to school.