A 25-year-old man was arrested Tuesday after school police say he brought a handgun onto the campus of Miami Northwestern Senior High School, triggering a classroom sweep and a search of student belongings.
Miami-Dade Schools Police identified the suspect as 25-year-old Johnbilly Forestal. Investigators say a teacher first reported spotting what appeared to be a gun in a women’s restroom. Officers later recovered a silver Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum tucked inside a green-and-orange Nickelodeon backpack, according to Local 10.
Forestal told detectives he had the revolver “for protection” and admitted he knew he was not supposed to have the gun on school grounds, the arrest report states. He was booked on a count of possession of a firearm on school property and is being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center with bond listed as “to be set.”
How Officers Responded
School staffers told investigators the gun was first noticed in a women’s restroom, which set off an on-campus safety check that included searching student bags inside a classroom. With the school’s surveillance cameras reportedly inoperable, a Miami-Dade Schools Police detective took over the investigation and impounded the revolver as evidence…