Cellphone case causes alarm, prompts lockdown at Florida high school; teen charged
A Florida teen was charged Tuesday after her cellphone case caused concern and prompted a precautionary lockdown.
In the wake of the tragic school shooting in Parkland, authorities in DeLand, Fla. were on high alert after receiving reports of a 15-year-old student bringing a possible handgun to DeLand High School.
According to the DeLand Police Department’s website, a student’s cellphone case resembled a handgun and prompted a lockdown so the case could be investigated. After determining it was, in fact, just a cellphone case, the student was charged with disruption of an educational institute.
Police Chief Jason Umberger questioned the need to have a cellphone case that resembles a weapon.
“It makes no sense that cellphone accessories are being made to look like handguns and it makes no sense that gun manufacturers are making fatal weapons into novelties like pink handguns. But this is the reality that we are living with and what my officers have to be aware of to keep our community safe,” he said.