From Local6:

TAVARES, Fla. — The arrest of a sixth-grader in Tavares, Fla., accused of using a balloon and milk carton top to make a small “deadly weapon” slingshot and fire a pellet at a classmate was uncalled for and overblown by authorities, according to the boy’s mother. Lake County sheriff’s deputies said Tavares Middle School student Kevin Cottle, 11, used his toy as a weapon when he hit another boy in the chest at school. Cottle faces second-degree felony charges of shooting or throwing a deadly missile in connection with the incident.

The Deadly Missile Used by A Schoolboy Terrorist

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office said the boy’s actions were criminal. The middle school student was charged with shooting or throwing a deadly missile and the sheriff’s office is standing behind the charge, the report said. “In this case, this child shot a pellet at another student that caused a welt on the skin,” Lake County sheriff’s office Sgt. Christie Mysinger said. The 11-year-old was transported to the Department of Juvenile Justice in Ocala, Fla. “To see him in handcuffs, shackles around his ankles and (with) a chain around his waist, it was everything I could do to maintain myself,” Cottle said. Tuesday afternoon, a judge released Cottle to his parents on home confinement. Cottle is due in court on March 1.

Danger! Welts! Terror Alert Raised!