An 18-year-old Miami Carol City Senior High School student appeared in bond court Thursday after authorities say they recovered a weapon on campus following a tip that someone there had a gun. Thomas Torrez is facing a charge of possessing a firearm on school property, and a judge issued him a $2,500 bond.
According to WSVN, the case began after authorities received a tip that someone at the school had a gun on campus. Officers responded to the campus, and Torrez initially told them he did not have a weapon or a backpack, the station reports.
That denial did not hold up, per the station's account. Officials reviewed surveillance video that showed Torrez did in fact have a bag, and authorities subsequently recovered a weapon on campus.
Tip Line Triggers Campus Response
The incident fits a pattern of how school officials say they have caught weapons on the Miami Carol City campus before: through anonymous tips rather than random searches. In a separate case at the same school, Miami-Dade County Public Schools Police officials said an anonymous tip about a possible weapon prompted an investigation, according to NBC Miami. In that incident, officials said no injuries were reported and all students were safe.
Florida law generally bars possessing a firearm at a school-sponsored event or on school property, with specified exceptions, under Florida Statute 790.115. The statute classifies willfully and knowingly violating that prohibition as a third-degree felony, though it sets a lesser second-degree misdemeanor classification for someone authorized to carry a concealed weapon who violates the rule.
Not the First Gun Case at the School
Torrez's arrest is not the first time a weapon allegedly made it onto the Carol City campus. In an earlier case highlighted by CBS Miami, 18-year-old Willie Moore appeared in bond court after reportedly bringing a loaded Glock .42 handgun to the school. A judge in that case set bond at $11,000 across three charges and ordered Moore to wear a GPS monitor while under house arrest.
Years earlier, in January 2020, a Carol City student was arrested and a weapon was confiscated after the district received a tip that the student had threatened another student on social media, according to the Miami Herald. And in a report published in February 2024, officials said weapons were found at the school but were believed not to include guns, per NBC Miami's earlier coverage.
Details beyond Thursday's bond hearing, including any response from Torrez or an attorney and what comes next in the case, have not been reported.
