Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods, surrounded by county and Ocala city officials, made a huge promise to parents and students late Friday afternoon: More school resource officers are on the way.
Woods’ statement came just hours after a student was shot at Forest High School, located at 5000 SE Maricamp Road, early Friday morning. The 17-year-old victim suffered a shotgun blast to his ankle but is expected to make a full recovery. And the suspect, 19-year-old Sky Bouche, who quickly was taken into custody by school resource officer Dep. Jimmy Long, faces a litany of charges, including terrorism, aggravated assault with a firearm, carrying a concealed firearm, possession of a short-barreled shotgun, possession of a firearm on school property, armed trespass on school property, interference in school function and culpable negligence. He is being held at the Marion County Jail without bond.
“We commend the state Legislature and Gov. Scott for coming up with a law securing our schools and protecting our children,” Woods said. “And we want to give assurance to Marion County residents and those throughout Florida that law enforcement is vigilantly working to make sure our kids are safe.”
The first step, Woods said, will be a presence of deputies and Ocala Police officers at every school in Marion County on Monday morning.
“From myself to the first-year deputy, we will show a presence and ensure parents that law enforcement is there,” he said.
The next step, Woods said, will be for both the sheriff’s office and the Ocala Police Department to hire enough resource officers to man every school in Marion County – 34 for the sheriff’s office and 16 for the Ocala Police Department. That way, Woods said, elementary and charter schools also will be manned, along with middle schools and high schools that currently are staffed.
It’s a plan that’s near and dear to Marion County Commissioner Kathy Bryant, who said the commission will be moving forward May 1 with a proposal to hire the resource officers and fund the more than $700,000 in personnel costs and $2.1 million needed to pay for new equipment for those officers.
“Hug your children a little tighter tonight,” Bryant said during a Friday afternoon news conference at the sheriff’s office. “Episodes with guns at schools like today’s event at Forest High School are unacceptable and need to be stopped. We want to make sure our kids are safe.”
Bryant added that being a mother herself, news of Friday’s shooting hit her quite hard.
“I was in tears,” she said. “I can’t imagine experiencing anything like what many parents experienced today. So let’s all be thankful for our first responders and how quickly everyone involved acted. Everyone did their jobs today and because of that, we had the best outcome that we could have had in a situation like this.”