Springstead High Student Arrested After Trapping Classmates With Knife in Bathroom

Wearing a mask over his face and gripping a steak knife drawn from his hoodie pocket, Erich Baugh told two Springstead High School classmates "I'm afraid I'm not gonna let you leave" inside a boys' restroom the morning of April 8, according to the Hernando County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies say Baugh, born November 8, 2006, had been crouched in the corner of the bathroom with personal items laid out on the floor when two students entered and approached the sink. That is when he pulled on the mask, issued the warning, and displayed the knife. Two additional students who entered the bathroom after the incident began were permitted to leave, and a third walked out from a stall, but two students remained blocked from exiting.

School resource deputy D. Kortman was alerted by students and responded immediately, detaining Baugh at approximately 8:03 a.m. and securing the weapon. No injuries were reported to students or staff.

Baugh was charged with two counts of False Imprisonment and one count of Exhibiting a Weapon on School Grounds and transported to the Hernando County Detention Center, where he is being held without bond on the False Imprisonment counts.

What investigators uncovered during questioning raised the stakes considerably beyond the bathroom confrontation. Baugh told deputies he did not know either of the students he had refused to release and said he had been experiencing problems at school and at home. He also disclosed that his original plan had been to overpower the school's guardian and use that person's firearm to "create more chaos," citing a specific dislike of the new school guardian. The Sheriff's Office flagged those statements as significant in its documentation of the case.

The school resource program, which stations sworn deputies inside Hernando County schools, played a direct role in limiting the scope of the incident. Kortman's rapid response to the student tip allowed the scene to be secured before the situation could escalate further.

Anyone with additional information about the incident can contact Hernando County Crime Stoppers anonymously.