Demonstrated at Miami-Dade school, Texas company’s drones aim to stop school shootings in seconds
A Texas-based company is hoping drone technology can help stop school shootings or at least help law enforcement in South Florida respond more quickly.
By Bri Buckley
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MIAMI, Florida (WFOR) — A Texas-based company is hoping drone technology can help stop school shootings or at least help law enforcement in South Florida respond more quickly.
Campus Guardian Angel founder and CEO Justin Marston said their system is designed to save lives in the critical early moments of an active shooter situation.
“In a school shooting most of the death happens in the first 120 seconds so it’s really about how quickly can you get there to engage the shooter before they’ve had the chance to kill a whole bunch of children,” Marston said.
Demonstration held at Miami-Dade school In a demonstration at AcadeMir Preparatory High School in South Miami-Dade, the company showed how the drones, which remain stored in a box on campus, can be deployed within seconds of a silent alarm being triggered.
“If somebody comes into the school with a gun, our pilots from our central ops center can immediately start flying them and our goal is to respond in 5 seconds, be on them in 15 seconds and then take out that shooter in 60 seconds,” Marston said.
The drones can fire powder pellets and potentially knock down a suspect, and the company demonstrated how difficult the devices are to shoot down.
Florida funding and local interest Marston said Gov. Ron DeSantis approved $557,000 in the 2025–2026 state budget to fund pilot programs in three Florida school districts. He said the Florida Department of Education will decide which districts are selected, but Miami-Dade County Public Schools has shown interest.
It costs about $1,000 per month for a school of 500 students, or roughly $4 per student, according to Marston.
“School safety used to be a fire drill, fire alarm, tornado drill once a year – it’s now active shooter drills, hostage drills, things of that nature, it’s turned into traumatizing events for students and parents,” said AcadeMir Preparatory principal John Lux.
“We send our kids to school to be safe, I think this is another step in the right direction to ensure the safety of our kids,” Lux said.
Marston said installations are underway in four school districts and one university in Texas.
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