Advertisement Students holding replica guns suspended after Facebook post Bristol-Plymouth High suspends students after gun picture posted Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Two Middleborough high school students have been suspended from Bristol-Plymouth Regional Technical School in Taunton after posting a picture on FaceBook.Watch the reportIt shows the two holding Airsoft guns and dressed for the school’s homecoming dance which was held last Friday.Airsoft guns are replicas, which can fire plastic pellets, and are intended to be non-lethal.Tito Velez, 16, said it was his idea, "We wanted something unique and different instead of using flowers like everyone else. We were like, 'let’s use something we like to do on the weekend as a prop.'"School officials said students were talking about the photo in school on Monday and it caused a “disruption,” which according to the superintendent is why they were suspended."It has nothing to do with free speech. Their behavior caused a significant disruption in the school," said Superintendent Richard Gross. "We had our homecoming event on Friday and following that the students were looking at Facebook and, of course, it caused a tumult in the building.”The students said they were pulled out of line on Monday when headed to a track meet. They are both long-distance runners.Jamie Peirera, the female in the photo said, “When I asked if I could call my mom they said, 'No,' and they were doing it for me and then they had a police officer come talk with me."Her father said it’s not right for the teens to be questioned without a parent.“I think it’s ridiculous, basically it’s a toy gun," said Jailes Pereira."It wasn’t done on school property, it was done in the house. It’s nothing to do with school or scaring or whatever it is. This is like making a molehill out of an anthill. I don’t think it’s right at all. Getting a day off or a warning is more than sufficient than going to this extent. That’s my bottom line," he said.Gross said it’s not about free speech or the right to have arms. He calls it a disruption, but then he mentioned school shootings, “They are juniors, they should have known better. You have Newtown, you have what just recently happened. This happened right on the heels of what happened in the Pacific Northwest."The students are suspended for up to 10 days. The superintendent said there will be a hearing about when or if they will be allowed to return."Here we are, one photo is getting us almost expelled," said Velez."It wasn’t even like at school or on school grounds it was on private time at a private house," said Jamie Peirera.