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Student in custody after threatening to kill others with a knife at South Fork High School

Posted at 10:32 AM, Nov 29, 2016
and last updated 2016-11-29 17:24:55-05

The Martin County Sheriff's Office took a student into custody Tuesday morning after they said he threatened to kill others with a knife at South Fork High School.

The sheriff's office said once the standoff ended, the 19-year-old student who is in the Exceptional Student Education program, was taken into custody.

 

A Martin County deputy deployed a stun gun on the student, however one of the probes hit his backpack and had no effect.

The deputy reloaded the stun gun, fired again and the probe missed or hit the backpack again, said Snyder.

Four school administrators were at the scene and surrounded the student to keep him away from other students in the area.

Snyder said a school resource officer attempted to negotiate with the student to try to get him to put the knife down, but he would not comply and continued to threaten to kill people.

A deputy then drew his firearm but did not have to use it because South Fork High School Asst. Principal Charles Moody used a belt to pin the 19-year-old student's arms to his side and wrestled him to the ground. 

Snyder said it is unlikely the student, who was taken to a mental health facility in Fort Pierce, will be charged since he has special needs.  

There were no injuries.