Coconut Creek

Broward Man Trying to Stop Fight Accused of Bringing Gun to School Property

Terry Loray's attorney says Loray was trying to stop a fight between students at Monarch High School

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A father who tried breaking up a fight between high school students was arrested for allegedly possessing a gun on school grounds.

Terry Loray, 39, was arrested Tuesday, six days after the incident at Monarch High School in Coconut Creek.

According to Loray's attorney, Loray was picking up his son from football practice that night when he saw the fight in the parking lot.

"He goes in to protect — to separate the people that were fighting," Loray's attorney, John James, said in bond court Wednesday. He maintained his client acted in self-defense.

In a cellphone video, Loray is seen attempting to step in between the fighting students and then gesturing to his son to go to his vehicle, an arrest report stated. His son goes to the car and comes back with what appears to be a firearm and points it at people.

"They got guns, bro," someone is heard saying in the video. Several students ran away "in fear of being shot," the report said.

"Obviously, the son was in fear — could see the fear there and Mr. Loray retrieved the firearm from his son and held it by his sides," James said.

Loray is then seen with the black handgun to his side as talks to the students, the report said. He eventually leaves the area with his family.

"If he was able to have his son go to the car to get the firearm there’s nothing to indicate that Mr. Loray couldn’t have just joined his son and left the scene altogether," a prosecutor said in the hearing. "The fact that he has his son come back to the location and then what is described to the court is that this was not an act of self-defense, your honor."

Before he was arrested Tuesday, Loray told deputies he had a handgun -- which his attorney says he has a concealed permit for -- in his car and retrieved it to protect his family from the other subjects there to fight his kids, the report said. Loray also said his son had retrieved Mace that was shaped like a gun.

Loray, a utilities employee for the city of Coconut Creek, has never been arrested and coaches little league football, his attorney said.

Loray is charged with possessing a firearm on school grounds and contributing to delinquency or dependency of a child, according to online jail records. His bond was set at $2,000 and a judge ordered Loray to stay away from the school and not possess firearms, weapons or ammunition while this case is pending.

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