Middle School Student With Knife Arrested By Clearwater Police

CLEARWATER, FL — Clearwater police officers have charged a sixth-grader with two criminal counts after they said he brought a knife to school Wednesday.

The student is a 12-year-old from Oak Grove Middle School. He was booked into the Pinellas Juvenile Assessment Center.

The said he became angry when another student slapped him at the bus stop on U.S. 19 Wednesday morning, so he ran home and grabbed an 8-inch kitchen knife. After returning to the bus stop, he told the other student to touch him again and pulled up his shirt to display the knife that was partially concealed in his shorts.

The student then got on the bus with the knife and traveled to school, where another student alerted school officials about the knife.

The middle schooler was charged with felony possession of a weapon on school property and improper exhibition of a dangerous weapon.

"Thankfully, a student saw something and said something," said Clearwater Police Chief Eric Gandy."That's what we always try to teach people, and this student absolutely did the right thing by telling someone at school. We were able to avert potential further issues once we became aware of the situation."