ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, Md. — On Tuesday, a letter was sent out to the Crofton High School community in Anne Arundel County letting people know that a parent had recently brought a gun on campus.
According to police and school officials, the incident happened Monday, December 6th.
A student had originally said that they got into an altercation with another student's parent, Nakia Peete, 45, of Gambrills, in the school parking lot.
Administrators watched a campus security camera recording of the incident and saw the parent, who police identified Tuesday as Nakia Peete, 45, of Gambrills, take a black box out of the trunk of a vehicle and put it into the passenger compartment, police said.
Administrators said they believed it was a pistol box, but no weapon was removed from the case and no one was threatened, according to a statement from police.
Police said the school resource officer determined through investigation that a Glock 17 handgun was in the box while on school property.
But in a phone interview with WMAR-2 News, Nakia Pete said there was never a gun in his vehicle.
The tow truck driver spoke to us while working his shift Tuesday night.
"My kids told me about that letter," he said. "Nothing was in the case; however it was a gun case. I will admit that."
So, what exactly happened in the parking lot?
Peete said he'd dropped off his son at school at 6:30 in the morning in the student parking lot when he had a run in with a female student driver as she attempting to park.
He admits words were exchanged.
"As I’m going around I’m looking to gesture to kind of say, 'hey sorry.' and she had both of her hands in the air cussing me out."
Peete says there was also a male passenger in the student's car but at no point did he ever point a gun.
"I had an empty box," he said. "Nothing in the glove compartment, nothing in the car. I never pointed the box at anyone."
So why did Peete move the box in the first place?
"Call it a mistake, a brain fart," he said. "It was one of those things without thinking. My storage is not far from school, and I think it was one of those, 'let me not forget to take this case out of the trunk and put it in storage.'"
Peete admits he is a licensed gun holder who does have guns, but they are kept in storage.
"I think I just may have misspoken when the officer was asking me questions."
The school resource officer applied for charges against Peete, and a criminal summons was issued, police said. No details were available in electronic court records as of 5 p.m. Tuesday.
