Deputy Sheriff's son and classmate charged for trading dead father's gun for $300 at Florida elementary school

Two young boys, aged 10, have been arrested after one tried to sell his late father's handgun to a fellow elementary school pupil, according to local police.

Carlos Santos Madrid and Jaiden Diego Escobedo were taken into custody after it emerged Escobedo had flogged a handgun to Madrid for $300.

Country Oaks Elementary School was placed under a brief lockdown after ammunition was discovered in Madrid's backpack on Wednesday.

After interviewing the two students Hendry County Sheriff Police, they arrested them both.

According to authorities, the two elementary school pupils agreed on the sale of Escabo's late father's handgun in exchange for $300 in February.

Carlos Santos Madrid and Jaiden Diego Escobedo, 10, were taken into custody after it emerged Escobedo had flogged a handgun to Madrid for $300 (pictured: Country Oaks Elementary School)

Country Oaks Elementary School was placed under a brief lockdown after ammunition was discovered in Madrid's (pictured) backpack on Wednesday

The firearm was found underneath a shed in Madrid's back garden, alongside a 74-gram bag of marijuana, according to the sheriff.

Madrid, who purchased the gun, was arrested and charged with unlawful possession of a firearm by a minor and possession of a firearm on school property.

He also faces charges of purchasing a firearm as a minor, as well as possession of marijuana weighing over 20 grams.

Escobedo was also taken into custody and faces a flurry of charges, including selling of a firearm to a minor and unlawful possession of a firearm by a minor.

The 10-year-old has also been charged with possession of a firearm on school property and grand theft of a firearm. 

Escobedo's mother was a deputy at the Hendry County Sheriff's Office but has since been put on Administrative Leave since the incident.

Both minors are currently in the custody of Department of Juvenile Justice.

This comes shortly after it emerged firearms have been the leading cause of death in children and teens in the US since 2020.

The harrowing figures have been on a steep incline since 2018, per the CDC’s WONDER database.

In 2019, 1,732 children under the age of 18 were killed by guns. By 2021, this figure rose to 2,590, the Pew Research Center reports. 

The firearm was found underneath a shed in Madrid's back garden (pictured), alongside a 74-gram bag of marijuana, according to the sheriff

Escobedo's mother was a deputy at the Hendry County Sheriff's Office but has since been put on Administrative Leave since the incident

There were 11,078 child and teen suicides in 2021 - more than any other year since 1999. 

Gun related deaths also accounted for a staggering 19 percent of childhood deaths in 2021, more than car accidents and cancer. 

Every day 12 children are killed as a result of gun violence in the US, whilst another 32 are shot or injured, according to Sandy Hook Promise. 

As of December 7, 2023, at least 40,167 had died because of a gun in the country in that year alone, the Gun Violence Archive reports. 

From those who were killed, 1,306 were teenagers and 276 were children.