High School Student Searched After Posting Non-Threatening 4-Year-Old Photo Of Himself With Gun On Facebook

A student in the Iola, Texas, Independent School District (ISD) was searched after he posted a 4-year-old photo of himself shooting a handgun with an adult present.

The male student had posted the photo on Facebook and the caption included the word “school,” so two other students reported the photo. The student who posted the photo was questioned and searched.

Seemingly aware of how absurd the situation was, Iola ISD Superintendent Scott Martindale told KBTX-TV3 that “It took us five minutes to handle this situation and handle it appropriately.”

The search was conducted because the post that included the photo contained the word “school,” even though, as Martindale said, “It did not threaten the school whatsoever it just mentioned the school.”

Still, jumpy institutions look into every instance. The photo was from when the student was 9 years old. It showed him holding a pistol with an adult. The two were shooting in the country, according to KBTX.

The search of the student occurred on the second day of school. Martindale said they spoke to the student “before school started” and that by “7:55 the elementary principal tracked that student down that had the posting.”

Lt. Daniel Wagnon of the Grimes County Sheriff’s Office told the outlet that an investigation was necessary and that the photo of the gun was not the sole issue.

“The issue was not that the juvenile had a firearm, he was under adult supervision at the time he had the firearm. The sole reason for the investigation was that the comment was made about the school in conjunction with a firearm,” Wagnon said.

Even though the student was found not to be a threat, the photo was non-threatening, and no threat against the school was mentioned, he will still be “disciplined according to district policy,” KBTX reported. The outlet reported that the “County Attorney is also reviewing the case” but that no charges have been filed at this time.

Just last week, another high school student was punished because he went to a shooting range with his mother and posted a video on Snapchat of the guns they would be shooting. He captioned the video “Finna be lit,” which someone mistook as a threat.

The student, Nathan Myers, is barred from classes until an investigation is completed. The Daily Wire previously reported that Myers explained to investigators that his caption was simply slang meaning he was “excited” about going to the range. Myers hadn’t seen his mother in weeks because his parents are separated.

“While we were at her house getting ready to go, I took a video of five or six pistols and an AR-15,” Myers told Complete Colorado. “None of them were loaded, they were all in their cases.”

Myers also posted footage of himself shooting. When the two returned, they discovered messages left by his father saying the police had come to his house asking about the first Snapchat video.

“His father told them he was out shooting with me, I am an avid shooter,” his mother said. “So, the officers said he wasn’t in trouble and left.”

But that didn’t stop his school from conducting their own investigation.