It was supposed to be an ordinary afternoon at Kenwood High School in Baltimore County.
Laughter bounced off lockers, sneakers squeaked, and 16-year-old Taki Allen munched from a crinkled orange bag of Doritos.
Minutes later, police cars screeched to a halt. Guns drawn. Orders shouted. Hands raised.
The trigger? Not a weapon – but a snack.
Baltimore County police descended after an AI-powered security system flagged what it believed was a firearm.
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The software’s digital eye caught Allen holding the chip bag and decided it was a gun.
Within moments, an alert was dispatched. Officers rushed in. Students dropped to the ground. Allen was handcuffed.
“I thought I was about to die,” the teenager later said.
Body-cam footage shows the tension breaking in almost comic disbelief.
An officer sighs:
“The way you guys were eating chips, it picked it up as a gun.” The supposed shooter, it turned out, had merely been snacking.
Officials insist the AI system – made by Omnilert – “worked as intended”.
It flagged a potential threat, they argue, leaving humans to verify it. Yet that distinction offered little comfort to the teen who found himself at gunpoint for holding chips.
The scene – half absurd, half chilling – has ignited a fierce debate about the wisdom of deploying algorithmic surveillance in schools.
Civil-rights advocates warn that “smart security” often turns dumb under real-world conditions, particularly in communities where police responses are already heavy-handed.
Technology vendors promise accuracy. But algorithms can’t read context – the laughter, the slouch, the bright orange bag. They see only shape and pattern, not fear or innocence.
The county now faces scrutiny over the AI rollout and its real-world consequences.
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Local leaders have called for audits, while parents are demanding answers – and accountability.
For Taki Allen, the experience lingers. He no longer waits outside after practice.
“I just stay in until my ride comes,” he told reporters.
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