The Marion County Sheriff’s Office released footage Thursday from a deputy’s body camera that shows the arrest of suspect Sky Bouche in the moments that followed the April 20 shooting at Forest High School in Ocala.
Dep. Jim Long, the school resource officer, took the 19-year-old Bouche into custody three minutes after hearing the shotgun blast that wounded a 17-year-old student.
The video shows Bouche hurriedly enter the school with a guitar case and a blue backpack. The guitar case concealed a 16-gauge sawed-off shotgun, while the backpack contained a tactical vest, gloves and multiple shotgun shells.
Sheriff’s officials said that Bouche entered the boy’s restroom on the second floor of Building 1, loaded his gun and put on his vest and gloves. He then left the restroom armed with his weapon, leaving behind the guitar case and backpack.
Bouche passed one girl in the hallway, but she didn’t notice his clothing or that he was carrying a shotgun, sheriff’s officials said.
Seconds later, Bouche allegedly fired one round into the door of a classroom. This slug went through the door and struck the 17-year-old student in the ankle/lower foot area. Bouche then put his weapon down and walked down the hallway and into another classroom, sheriff’s officials said.
The video shows Long going classroom to classroom to assess the situation while calling for the school to be locked down and additional manpower to help him. He sees the shotgun in the hallway and continues checking classrooms with his gun drawn until he reaches the one where Bouche is calmly sitting in a school desk.
After placing Bouche in handcuffs, Long clears the classroom. Bouche, a former student at the school, then apologizes to Long and says, “I wasn’t raised by the right people,” adding, there’s “a lot of violence and medication” use in his family.
Bouche also told Long, “I don’t know why I did it, sir.”
Long questions Bouche about any other weapons or explosives on the grounds of the school. He assures the deputy that there are no others and shows him a table where he put his shotguns shells and a knife.
Bouche, who assured deputies that he was a “lone wolf,” eventually is led to an Ocala Police patrol car before being transported to the Marion County Jail. Deputies and officers removed his tactical vest and gloves before putting on a second set of handcuffs to make sure that he was secured.
Bouche has been charged with 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, disruption or interference with an educational institution to facilitate or further terrorism and culpable negligence. He has pleaded not guilty and is being held at the Marion County Jail without bond.
Long, who graduated from Forest High in 1989, is a 25-year veteran of the sheriff’s office who has been a resource officer at the school for 10 years. Six days after the shooting, he was awarded the Medal of Heroism from Gov. Rick Scott.
