PHS student arrested on gun charges

A Pensacola High School student was arrested Wednesday after a loaded 9 mm semi-automatic pistol was found in his backpack, according to a Pensacola Police arrest report.

The 15-year-old boy, whose name is being withheld by the Pensacola Journal because of his age, has been charged with three felonies — carrying a concealed firearm, possession of a firearm on school property and battery of an officer — as well as resisting arrest, a misdemeanor, the report said.

The arrest stemmed from a Sept. 1 complaint school administrators received from a student who reported the boy "often carried a firearm," which "she had personally seen," the report said. The girl told administrators the boy "was infatuated with her and would not leave her alone" and had told her "if he could not be with her, no one would."

The following day, Sept. 2, two officers showed up in the boy's classroom. As they began searching his backback, he fled down the hallway, ran out of the school building, jumped a fence and left the campus, according to the report. After a chase, the teen was apprehended while hiding on the side of a house.

When police found the gun in the boy's backpack, it was loaded with ammunition and had "one bullet chambered, ready to fire," the report said.

Norm Ross, the Escambia County School District deputy superintendent, said students and staff were never in danger.

"These are very, very serious charges, but this will be dealt with on two fronts, by law enforcement and the school," Ross added.