PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. – A 34-year-old man was arrested after scaling a fence at Interlachen Junior-Senior High School armed with a billy club during a lockdown on April 17, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office said.
The original tip that prompted the lockdown came through FortifyFL. As deputies were clearing the school and the room where the threat was reported, security cameras recorded Steven Musgrove — shirtless and carrying the club — behind a pillar near the school library, sheriff’s officials said.
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A second lockdown was triggered after he paced an exterior hallway and then climbed another fence to the front parking lot before deputies or guardians could confront him. Musgrove got into a vehicle and left the scene.
“Mr. Musgrove is extremely fortunate that the school was already on a lockdown when he illegally scaled a perimeter fence in order to gain entry,” Sheriff H.D. “Gator” DeLoach said. “We are not an agency or a school district that is going to wait for the cavalry. If he had remained on campus, he would have been met with deadly force. The safety of our schools warrants that kind of response, and we will protect the lives we are entrusted with, even if it means taking another. He is lucky he is only facing charges, and no one is having to plan a funeral due to his stupidity.”
DeLoach also warned parents and family members that during a school lockdown no one is permitted to enter or leave campus for safety reasons.
“Parents who attempt to take vigilante justice not only impede our ability to stop a threat, they can be considered a threat themselves, especially when armed,” he said.
Musgrove was arrested and charged with interfering with school administration functions; trespassing a structure or conveyance while armed; possession of a weapon on school property; and violation of drug offender probation. He is being held without bond.