Search prompted by report of illegal substances
Administrators found the shotgun while searching the vehicle in response to a report that it contained illegal substances, the sheriff's office said Tuesday, November 3. The campus school resource officer then took Mondragon into custody.
The sheriff's office said investigators have found no evidence that Mondragon intended to harm anyone at the school.
Mondragon is being charged as an adult with carrying a weapon within a school safety zone. He was still being booked into Hall County Jail when the arrest was reported.
Georgia law and the vehicle exception
The charge falls under Georgia's school-safety-zone weapons law, O.C.G.A. § 16-11-127.1(b)(2). Under that provision, carrying or possessing a weapon in a school safety zone is a felony for someone who is not a lawful weapons carrier. A conviction carries a possible fine of up to $10,000, a prison term of two to 10 years, or both.
The statute, published by Justia, allows an exception for weapons legally kept in a locked vehicle within a school safety zone. But it expressly says that exception "shall not apply to a student attending a public or private elementary or secondary school." Those students therefore cannot rely on the locked-vehicle exception for a weapon in a car on campus.
Earlier weapons arrest at the academy
The academy had another student weapons case on Friday, May 2, 2025, when authorities arrested Joshua Brent Edwards, 18, of Gainesville, according to Now Georgia.
Authorities said a school resource officer's K-9 partner alerted to a backpack during a routine safety sweep. The search uncovered a loaded .45-caliber handgun with an altered serial number, along with several THC vape cartridges.
Edwards faced charges that included possession of a firearm on school property and possession of a firearm with an altered serial number.
