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Abdiel Badillo-Martinez, 29, told police he got the weapons while he was a police officer in Puerto Rico, a redacted Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office report states.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Duval County Public Schools substitute teacher was arrested Tuesday after school police discovered multiple firearms and ammunition in his vehicle, according to a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office arrest report.
The report states that around 9 a.m. Tuesday, an employee at Southside Estates Elementary School told school police that a substitute teacher, identified as Abdiel Badillo-Martinez, 29, told her he kept firearms in his car because he was homeless and had nowhere else to keep them.
The employee told police she saw a gun on the floorboard of Badillo-Martinez’s vehicle when she helped him get a “Pop A Lock” to open his vehicle Monday after school, the report states.
When searching Badillo-Martinez’s vehicle, police found two loaded firearms and a “large amount of ammunition,” the report states. A Glock 23 was found under the driver’s seat exposed, an AR pistol was found in the back seat up against the passenger seat and a knife was found in the center console, the report states. A ballistic vest was also located.
A section of the report intended to be redacted, which was legible to First Coast News, stated Badillo-Martinez told police he had acquired the firearms when he was a police officer in Puerto Rico. He further advised that he hadn’t been a police officer for more than four years.
Teresa Dowdell-Brown, the school principal, said in a statement to parents that while police conducted their investigation, students were cleared from the building where Badillo-Martinez had been teaching. Students then returned to their classrooms after it was determined the building was safe.
“While it does not appear that he was armed while in the classroom or in the school building, it is illegal to have firearms anywhere on school property,” Dowdell-Brown said. “As a result of this incident, the substitute will be blocked from working in our school or in any Duval County Public School in the future.”
Badillo-Martinez faces charges of possession of a short-barreled gun, rifle or machine gun and carrying a concealed weapon or firearm in any elementary/secondary school facility or administration building.