DeLand, FL - Police take a DeLand High School student away in handcuffs today for flashing a gun-shaped knife at a group of female students and threatening to beat them up.
19-year-old Craig P. Denton threw that knife away while running away from officers looking to question him about an on-campus incident, according to the DeLand Police Department spokesperson Chris Graham.
"[Denton] was arrested shortly after 11:30 a.m.," Graham added. "Students told the DeLand Police School Resource Officer stationed on campus that Denton flashed what appeared to be a gun at them when they confronted him about a fight that had occurred earlier in the day."
Photos of the actual knife police found at the scene are posted below.
Speaking to reporters afterward, DeLand PD Chief Jason Umberger said students were not in any immediate danger at the time Denton was taken into custody.
According to the arrest report, six female students told the officer about the weapon during a lunch period, saying Denton had what looked like a gun tucked into a holster inside his waistband.
It also notes that Denton had been suspended from school for several days and was asked to leave campus following some kind of disturbance prior to this incident.
Denton - who's a sophomore at the school, according to Chief Umberger - made no direct statements to police about the incident, per the report.
Denton is held on $8,000 bond at Volusia County Jail on charges of aggravated assault, possession of a weapon on school property and disruption of a school function.
