Thanks to an alert school employee in Florida who saw something and said something, and social media, an 18-year-old who was in possession of a realistic-looking fake gun on a private school campus was arrested within 2.5 hours of being spotted in Lakeland.
Adrian Araujo-Garcia of Lakeland went to the Resurrection Catholic Church and private school on Old Hwy 37 in Lakeland around 12:15 p.m. this afternoon, Wednesday, November 1, 2023, and was seen by a school employee who was on her lunch break in the school parking lot.
The employee saw him at the front of the church, and then saw him walk to a silver Honda Civic in the parking lot.
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The employee saw Araujo-Garcia open the door and retrieve a silver handgun, appearing to insert a magazine into it. He got into the car and it left the parking lot.
The employee immediately called 911 and told another employee to put the school on lockdown. Descriptions of the suspect and vehicle, as well as video surveillance images of both, were sent out to the media and posted on PCSO social media accounts.
Adrian himself saw the photos on social media, and called the Sheriff’s Office while deputies were en route to the home where the car was registered (one of his relatives).
Adrian told deputies that he went to the church to pray, and that when he got into the car, he saw the silver-colored toy gun in the backseat and retrieved it. He said that it appeared to be “jammed” so he picked it up and got into the front seat with it and began manipulating it to “clear the jam” and fired it into the front floorboard.
Deputies retrieved the gun, a realistic-looking plastic replica of a Glock model 18 handgun, with a white slide and removable magazine, which from a distance is nearly indistinguishable from a real firearm.
Adrian Araujo-Garcia was arrested and charged with Disorderly Conduct (M2) and Disturbing/Interrupting School Function (M2).
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