A teen couple was suspended from school Monday after posting a picture on Facebook holding Airsoft rifles with the caption "Homecoming 2014."
Jamie Pereira and Tito Velez, both 16, posted the picture in attempts to be "unique and different" with their pre-homecoming dance pictures, as Velez explains to Fox News.
The Airsoft rifles, used for a sport similar to paintball, are legal for use at all ages under federal law although they resemble real rifles. The rifles fire non-metallic pellets that won't cause serious injury as long as proper clothing is worn while playing.
"It was an innocent mistake," Jailes Pereira, Jamie's father, tells Fox News. "It was a totally innocent, stupid mistake that Tito made by putting the word 'homecoming' at the bottom of the photo and then posting it to Facebook. If he had not posted the word 'homecoming,' there would've been no problem. I understand [school officials] take on it, but it was not intended with malice at all."
Mr. Pereira is planning on going up to the school to speak with the principal because he doesn't believe the suspension is the right solution.
"A slap on the wrist, maybe a day-long suspension or a warning would've been the right thing," he tells Fox News.
The picture has since been removed from Facebook.
School superintendent Richard Gross defended the school's decision by telling Fox News the punishment was based off the disruption they caused at school since students were discussing it all day.
Some suggested Gross' decision was harshened because the incident occurred just hours after the shooting at a Washington high school.
"What other people and the children decide to call it is another thing," Gross tells Fox News of the reason for the suspension. "This is about the tumult created by their online activity."
The Facebook post was argued by several social media users that the picture was protected by the teens' first amendment rights, however, Gross tells CBS Local that since the caption read "Homecoming 2014" it tied the guns to a school function.
