The 17-year-old who shot himself at Lake Minneola High School on Tuesday morning stole the gun from a family friend, the Lake County Sheriff's Office stated.

Seth Sutherland killed himself near the school's bus loop at around 7:30 a.m. and used a .9mm Glock, which he stole from a family friend, stated Lt. John Herrell in an emailed news release on Thursday.

Sutherland was at the friend's home last weekend. He was doing work for the friend, slept over at the house and returned there on Sunday afternoon.

Herrell stated that the gun was stored in a secured case and it was separate from its magazines. A locking mechanism was on the gun at the time it was stolen, he continued.

"Once the family heard of the incident Tuesday morning, they checked and discovered the gun had been stolen," Herrell described.

Herrell also stated that after interviewing Sutherland's family, friends and school officials and going over his social media accounts, deputies discovered that Sutherland was not bullied.

However, the teenager did leave a note behind at his home, describing his years of struggling with depression, Herrell explained.

School safety and security

Authorities say the security of the schools is the responsibility of the school board.

Lake County School Board Member Bill Mathias who represents District 1 said he was at the school Tuesday handing out meals to students during the lockdown.

"When I walked in you could just feel the grief and pain on the administrators," said Mathias.  "What I saw was everyone hands on deck and not much time to speak about it or grieve but to get the meals out," he said.

Mathias says he expects there to be a closed meeting about safety and security. He says some schools do have a clear bag policy.

"I don’t think that you can say with absolute certainty that this isn’t going to happen again. That’s the sad part," he said.

Authorities say the two deputies at the school were issuing a trespass warning in the front part of the school Tuesday morning when the incident happened