THIRD STUDENT ARRESTED IN CONNECTION WITH GUN INCIDENT AT MOUNT DORA HIGH SCHOOL

Today Mount Dora Police made a third arrest of a student in connection with yesterday’s incident involving a handgun on the Mount Dora High School campus.

Timothy Newbold III, 18, was implicated in the incident through investigative interviews.  Once detectives were able to confirm his involvement, the Mount Dora High School senior was taken into custody without incident after checking into school for his fourth period class at approximately 10:45 a.m. 

Yesterday, Mount Dora Police School Resource Officer Nate Warford acted on a tip from students who believed they heard two other students, ages 16 and 17, in a bathroom with what they believed to be a gun being racked or clicked on an empty chamber.   Alarmed, the students left the bathroom and advised school staff. Warford located the firearm in the waistband of one of the two juvenile suspects arrested yesterday. Those boys were seen leaving the bathroom at the time of the incident. 

The 17-year-old and 18-year-old students played on the school's varsity football team.
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During separate taped interviews yesterday, the juvenile suspects implicated each other.  Later, the school’s video security system captured the pair, along with Newbold, discreetly passing the gun among themselves in the gym’s bleachers. Afterward, the juvenile suspects were seen entering the gym’s bathroom after one had concealed the gun in his pants.  An unspent bullet matching the confiscated gun was later found in that student’s fanny pack. The other student had done an internet search on his phone for ammunition that also matched the gun. 

This incident would not have resulted in a safe and quick conclusion without the courage of the student who reported it.  Mount Dora Police is encouraging all students and faculty to report any suspicions involving weapons on school grounds immediately, so they may be dealt with in the same expeditious manner.

 This is still an ongoing investigation and any further details in the investigation may be limited.

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