Who is Sean Mesa? Miami teen arrested for improper display of a firearm had child porn on his phone

Ever since the Parkland school shooting, parents across the US are on high alert to ensure their children's safety. A Miami father recently told police that he was concerned about his son sharing photos of him with guns on Instagram and Snapchat.

However, after investigators were given Sean Mesa's smartphones, they found child porn saved on it, police say. He has now been charged for possessing child pornography, as well as improper display of a firearm.

Eighteen-year-old Mesa who is a student at Dr Michael Krop Senior High was taken into custody after he came to the attention of the US Homeland Security Investigations' Violent Gang Task Force, Miami Herald reported.

When Miami-Dade Schools detective John Messenger went to talk to Mesa on Tuesday (20 February) about his fascination with guns, he told him, "he likes guns and it was his right to post on social media whatever he wished".

After the talk with the officer, Mesa's father handed over two smartphones that belonged to his son to the police.

However, that didn't stop the boy from posting more images. According to police, Mesa used another electronic device to share a Snapchat photo of a pistol on his lap with a caption that read: "Now they watching so I ain't stopping."

Mesa was taken into custody by the Miami-Dade Schools' police on Friday morning (23 February). His photos are "recklessly displaying firearms and pointing them at the camera," the arrest warrant read.

"The latest Snapchat photos have students and staff at Dr Michael Krop Senior High alarmed and afraid," the publication reported, citing the warrant.

Mesa's arrest comes amid the police tightening their response to online threats after the 14 February massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, which killed 17 people and wounded around 15 in the worst school shooting in Florida history.

Ex-student Nikolas Cruz had been on the radar of local and federal authorities for his online posts with threats and weapons, but no action had ever been taken.

Since the shooting, police have arrested many young people who posted threats about violence online, the newspaper reported.