Gun Left in Unattended Bag Gets Palm Beach Gardens Student Arrested at PBSC

A Palm Beach State College student was arrested after a professor discovered a loaded handgun inside a bag left behind in a physics and calculus classroom on the school's Palm Beach Gardens campus. The bag had reportedly sat unattended for about 15 minutes before the professor found the weapon and alerted campus security, according to investigators.

Police officers responded to the campus at 3160 PGA Boulevard at 2:53 p.m. Wednesday after receiving a report of a student with a firearm on school property, as reported by WPBF. By the time officers arrived, a campus security officer had already removed the firearm from the bag, secured it, and ejected its magazine, the outlet reported. A records check found the gun had not been reported stolen.

The weapon was identified as a Springfield Hellcat 9mm handgun, a micro-compact pistol measuring about an inch wide and weighing 18 ounces empty, with a standard flush magazine holding 11 rounds, per Springfield Armory's specifications. Inside the same bag, officers found a driver's license and a concealed carry permit belonging to Kobey Obrian Parchment, according to the report. Parchment later returned to the classroom, where authorities took him into custody.

Permit Holder, But No Legal Cover on Campus

Parchment told investigators the firearm belonged to him and that he had accidentally left it behind, the outlet's report notes. But holding a valid concealed weapon permit does not authorize anyone to carry or possess a firearm inside a Florida college or university facility — an explicit carve-out written into Florida Statute § 790.06(12)(a)(13), according to Online Sunshine, the state's official statutes portal.

That distinction is why Parchment now faces possession of a weapon on school property, a violation of Florida law that the same report identifies as the specific charge filed against him. Under Florida Statute § 790.115(2)(a), possessing a firearm on any school or postsecondary campus is a third-degree felony carrying up to five years in prison, five years of probation, and a $5,000 fine, per Online Sunshine's statutory text.

Automatic Dismissal Possible Under College Policy

Parchment was transported to the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department for processing before being taken to the Palm Beach County Jail, according to the report. Beyond the criminal case, Palm Beach State College's Student Code of Conduct imposes its own consequences: under Policy 40, students who possess a firearm or dangerous weapon on campus without written administrative authorization face automatic dismissal from the institution, according to the college's Student Code of Conduct.

College safety regulations narrow the exceptions even further, limiting authorized firearm possession on campus grounds exclusively to active law enforcement officers, with uniformed officers permitted to carry visibly and plainclothes officers following departmental guidelines. Civilian students and staff are barred from carrying firearms regardless of the circumstances, per the same safety regulations.

A Recurring Issue at South Florida Campuses

This is not the first time a South Florida college has dealt with a student firearm case. In 2023, a 22-year-old student at Keiser University's West Palm Beach campus was arrested and charged with third-degree felony possession of a weapon on school property after staff found a 10mm pistol and high-capacity magazines in his dorm room, according to WPBF's earlier reporting.

The Palm Beach Gardens campus, also known as the Eissey Campus, opened in 1982 and serves roughly 12,000 students annually across credit and noncredit programs. It's one of five campuses operated by Palm Beach State College, which traces its roots to 1933 as Palm Beach Junior College — making it Florida's oldest public community college and a major institution within the state's 28-member Florida College System, according to background compiled by the American Association of University Professors.

The college maintains a centralized Campus Safety Department with security personnel stationed across all five of its locations, reachable through a central dispatch line, per the college's safety and security handbook. That structure allowed campus security to secure the weapon and notify Palm Beach Gardens Police before officers arrived on scene Wednesday afternoon.