The father subsequently went to the bus stop and spoke with the bus driver. According to the sheriff, the driver told him she would attempt to deal with the situation.
The following morning, however, the dispute escalated.
The father drove his son to the bus stop himself. The 14-year-old involved in the previous day’s confrontation was already aboard the bus.
As the father spoke with the driver, the teenager reportedly left the bus and confronted him. Other students then became involved and contacted another teenager, according to the sheriff.
That second teenager was a 16-year-old who had reportedly been suspended from school and was not originally at the bus stop.
Budensiek said the situation quickly became tense as the two teenagers approached the father.
The sheriff described the teenagers as young men who “look like grown men” and said they were yelling at the adult as they moved toward him.
The father reportedly raised his hand and repeatedly instructed the teenagers to stay back.
“They got all the way up on him before he pulled out a concealed weapon and told them to get back, which he’s legally allowed to do. He’s legally allowed to stand his ground,” Budensiek said.
The encounter ended without a shot being fired.
According to the sheriff, the teenagers backed away after the firearm was displayed. The father then put the weapon away, drove around the corner and flagged down a deputy himself.
He immediately reported what had happened.
That detail became an important part of the sheriff’s account because investigators were able to begin interviewing witnesses and participants shortly afterward.
Budensiek said detectives spoke with students who had been aboard the bus as well as the people directly involved. The sheriff said the accounts investigators collected were consistent.
He further stated that deputies would have sought warrants against the 14-year-old and the other 16-year-old who confronted the father had the father wanted to pursue charges. He ultimately declined to press charges.
“To recap it, the individual with the gun was the victim in this case,” Budensiek said. “He just wants to be left alone. He wants his son to be left alone.”
The sheriff also emphasized his interpretation of Florida’s Stand Your Ground protections.
“You are allowed to stand your ground whether the person coming after you is 16 or 24 or 34… He’s legally allowed to stand his ground.”
The father is reportedly a security guard and was legally carrying a concealed firearm, according to Budensiek. The sheriff said the man has since removed his son from the school and plans to homeschool him.
But the teenagers involved have given a different account of the confrontation.
Trevor Ivory and RJ McIntyre spoke with WPBF and said they were frightened when the gun appeared. They disputed portions of the sheriff’s description and argued that displaying a firearm at a location where children gather for school was inappropriate.
“I feel like under any circumstance, however you felt, no firearms should be displayed at a bus stop where there’s a bunch of kids on a bus looking forward to going to school,” Ivory said. “Instead, they had to see a man with a gun on two teenagers that they know ride the bus in the morning.”
McIntyre likewise described the encounter as frightening and said he believed the situation had become serious once the firearm appeared.
The dispute became a major subject at an NAACP community meeting held Tuesday night, where the teenagers and their families were present.
Pam Ivory, Trevor’s aunt, criticized the father’s decision to display the weapon.
“The dad had a thousand options. He chose the wrong option,” she said.
Jimmy Smith, president of the NAACP Martin County Branch, also called for further discussion with local officials.
“We know guns aren’t allowed on school property. They also shouldn’t be allowed in school bus stops,” Smith said.
Smith said he intends to meet with the school board and sheriff’s office about the incident.
“We shouldn’t be pointing a gun at our children,” he said.
WATCH:
There is also a separate legal question surrounding firearm possession at a school bus stop. WPBF interviewed former Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg, who noted that Stand Your Ground protections can depend on whether someone was otherwise engaged in criminal activity or unlawfully possessing a firearm at a prohibited location.
That issue, however, does not change the sheriff’s publicly stated conclusion regarding this particular incident: investigators determined that the father would not face criminal charges.
No one was shot, and no injuries were reported from the confrontation.
The case has therefore evolved into a broader argument over parental protection, school safety, firearms and Florida’s self-defense laws. The competing accounts remain sharply different, but the sheriff’s office has maintained that its investigation found insufficient grounds to charge the father.
For now, the father has removed his son from the school, the teenagers have publicly offered their account, and local officials are facing renewed questions about how similar confrontations should be handled before they escalate.
