Winter Haven Police have released further details regarding a lockdown Wednesday at Winter Haven High School.

  • Campus locked down after student reported seeing a man with a gun
  • School placed on lockdown and searched by multiple law enforcement agencies
  • While being interviewed by authorities, student confessed to making the story up

Officials say the 17-year-old student, who we are not naming, in accordance with our Crime Guidelines, called his parents at around 10:56 a.m. and reported that he'd been approached in a campus stairwell by a black male wearing a hoodie who was armed with a handgun. The parents reported the sighting to the school, who in turn informed law enforcement.

Police made contact with the student and his father on campus. The school was immediately placed on lockdown while police, Polk County Sheriff's deputies and Polk County Safe Schools personnel responded to the scene. Additional area schools were also alerted and placed on heightened security as a precaution.

While officials canvassed the school to ensure the safety of students and faculty and law enforcement conducted a search of the campus, investigators checked surveillance video of the stairwell where the student reported the encounter with the armed suspect. The student did not appear in any of the footage from the timeframe given in his report.

While being interviewed further by authorities, the student then admitted to making the story up, and that at no time was he approached on campus by anyone armed with a handgun.

Officials then lifted the lockdown and took the student into custody. He was charged with conveying/causing false report and disrupting a school function.

According to officials, the student had previously been on probation for grand theft, and he was also charged with violation of felony probation.