For second time in two days, students 'see something, say something'

TAMPA (FOX 13) - For the second time in two days, students in the Tampa Bay area have reported a gun or a threat to school safety.

Deputies say a fellow student spotted a 13-year-old hiding a gun on Thursday in the giant tire in the courtyard at Dowdell Middle School. That student went to staff, who went to the resource deputy who secured the gun. 

"It was the parents' fault," said Luz Cartagena, a parent of a student at Dowdell Middle School. "You have to be paying attention to your child all the time. It is ridiculous that kids that age have to come to school and not be safe."

On Wednesday at Hernando High School, two students told a resource deputy that a third student was planning a shooting for the next day. After being caught, he admitted he was going to try to borrow a gun from a neighbor to carry it out Thursday.

"In most cases, the student usually does it was a joke or it was something that was on TV or we were talking about a video game," said Denise Moloney of the Hernando County Sheriff's Office. "In this case, he did admit to I am going to do that."

That student told deputies he was going to shoot anyone he was mad at. 

"You can never really measure what is prevented," offered Larry McKinnon of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. "But we do know what has happened throughout the schools and various public places around the country, when guns get in the wrong hands."

The mother of the student at Dowdell Middle School did not allow him to speak to detectives about why he brought the gun to school.

"When I heard that, I was scared for my sisters," said Sarah Brito, whose sister attends Dowdell Middle. "With all the craziness going on with the guns."

Both students were taken to the student assessment centers in their counties.

They also face disciplinary action in school.