BALTIMORE COUNTY, Md. — A 16-year-old student at Kenwood High School was handcuffed and searched after an AI-powered weapon detection system wrongly identified a crumpled bag of chips as a gun, officials confirmed.
The incident occurred Oct. 20, shortly after football practice, when the student, Taki Allen, sat outside the school with friends and slipped an empty Doritos bag into his pocket. About 20 minutes later, the school’s AI surveillance program flagged the image as a firearm, triggering a police response involving multiple patrol units.
A human reviewer had already determined the alert posed no threat, but that assessment was not relayed to the school in time to prevent the police response.
Allen said officers arrived with guns drawn, ordered him to the ground, and handcuffed him before conducting a search. No weapon was found. “I was just holding a Doritos bag — it was two hands and one finger out, and they said it looked like a gun,” Allen told local media.
Baltimore County Public Schools described the incident as “truly unfortunate” in a letter to families and offered counseling to students affected. The system involved, made by Omnilert, analyzes security footage for possible weapons and alerts authorities in real time.
The Baltimore County Police Department said officers responded to a report of a “suspicious person with a weapon,” but found nothing on arrival.
As Baltimore’s CNN affiliate WBAL reports, the incident has fueled debate over the reliability of AI-based security systems:
Baltimore County officials are now calling for a review of how Kenwood High School uses the AI gun detection system and why the teen ended up in handcuffs despite school safety officials quickly determining there was no weapon.
“They made me get on my knees, put my hands behind my back, and cuffed me,” Kenwood student Taki Allen told CNN affiliate WBAL, describing what happened Monday evening when police arrived at the school while he was waiting with friends for a ride home after football practice.
“They searched me, and they figured out I had nothing. Then, they went over to where I was standing and found a bag of chips on the floor,” Allen said.
He described a distressing scene with a heavy police response.
“The first thing I was wondering was, was I about to die? Because they had a gun pointed at me,” Allen told the outlet, recalling how “about eight cop cars” pulled up to the school.
Officials say the AI system’s failures — and how it’s used in schools — are now under serious review.
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If a person called the police and claimed someone had a firearm, and when the police came and investigated it is a high probability that the caller would be charged with a false accusation. So why isn’t the AI system charged for a false accusation? Obviously AI can not be charged but it can be SHUT down for making a false accusation.