Suspected Florida school shooter appears in court

AP
Florida, US | April 21

A gunman who carried a shotgun in a guitar case and opened fire at a Florida high school has been denied bond during his first court appearance.

A handcuffed Sky Bouche appeared Saturday before Judge Willard Pope via video conference at the Marion County Jail. The Ocala Star-Banner reports a second court date was set for next month.

Bouche told the newspaper he felt an adrenaline rush before Friday’s shooting that quickly wore off, and he was unable to continue with his plan.

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Bouche faces charges including terrorism, aggravated assault with a firearm and possession of a firearm on school property.

The shooting at Forest High School in Ocala happened on a day planned for a national classroom walkout to protest gun violence and left one person injured.

A gunman carried a shotgun in a guitar case and opened fire Friday in a Florida high school, wounding one student before he was arrested on a day planned for a national classroom walkout to protest gun violence, authorities said.

Nineteen-year-old suspect Sky Bouche said “Sorry,” followed by “It doesn’t matter anyway” to reporters as he was led from the school in handcuffs by several deputies.

It happened at Forest High School, which was put on lockdown. A 17-year-old boy was taken to a local hospital for treatment of a non-life threatening wound to his ankle.

Some students and teachers piled desks and filing cabinets against classroom doors as a makeshift barricade.

Police initially said Bouche was a student at the school, but later said he was a former student not currently enrolled. No charges were immediately announced. The sheriff’s office posted video on Facebook of Bouche being led from the school.

“I didn’t shoot anyone,” he said to reporters. He ignored most of the other questions until asked what he’d say to the shooting victim. That’s when he said, “Sorry.”

The shooting comes just over two months after a gunman killed 17 people and wounded 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Nikolas Cruz, 19, faces the death penalty if convicted in that Valentine’s Day shooting.

It also coincided with a nationwide student walkout to protest gun violence on the anniversary of the 1999 massacre at Colorado’s Columbine High School. The Ocala school had planned its version of a walkout, students said.