October 26, 2025
‘I was just holding a Doritos bag — it was two hands and one finger out, and they said it looked like a gun,’ said the student Taki Allen.
A Baltimore high school student says he was terrified after police officers approached him with guns drawn when an artificial intelligence (AI) system falsely identified his bag of Doritos as a firearm. Taki Allen, a student at Kenwood High School, was sitting with friends outside the school Oct. 20 when police suddenly arrived, responding to what they believed was a report of an armed individual.
“At first, I didn’t know where they were going until they started walking toward me with guns, talking about, ‘Get on the ground,’ and I was like, ‘What?’” Allen told outlets, as reported by The Guardian.
Allen said the officers handcuffed and searched him before realizing he was unarmed. They later showed him the image that had triggered the AI system’s alert. “I was just holding a Doritos bag — it was two hands and one finger out, and they said it looked like a gun,” he said.
The incident stemmed from Baltimore County’s use of an AI-powered surveillance system that scans school security footage for what it interprets as weapons. The system pinged on Allen. When the software flags a potential threat, it sends an automatic alert to school staff and law enforcement.
In a letter sent to families, school officials acknowledged the distress caused by the event. “We understand how upsetting this was for the individual that was searched as well as the other students who witnessed the incident,” the letter read of the Allen situation.
“Our counselors will provide direct support to the students who were involved in this incident and are also available to speak with any student who may need support.”
The Baltimore County Police Department confirmed the false alarm, stating that “officers assigned to Precinct 11-Essex responded to Kenwood High School following a report of a suspicious person with a weapon. Once on scene, the person [Taki Allen] was searched and it was determined the subject was not in possession of any weapons.”
The grandfather of Taki Allen, Lamont Davis, said he was shaken by the encounter. “Nobody wants this to happen to their child. No one wants this to happen,” he told outlets.
The incident has renewed concerns about the reliability of AI surveillance in schools and the potential for false alerts to escalate into dangerous situations.
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