11-year-old Florida student arrested for threatening to commit a mass shooting, authorities say
By Amy Simonson, CNN
(CNN) — An 11-year-old middle school student in Port Orange, Florida, has been charged with a felony after threatening to commit a mass shooting at a middle school, authorities said Monday.
“We just arrested a Creekside Middle School student who made threats to commit a school shooting at Creekside or Silver Sands Middle School,” Volusia County Sheriff Michael Chitwood said in a post on social media announcing the arrest. “He had written a list of names and targets. He says it was all a joke.”
The Creekside Middle School student was charged with a felony for intimidation through a written threat of a “mass shooting/terrorism act,” according to an incident report sent to CNN by the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office. CNN is not naming the 11-year-old, who has been charged as a juvenile.
The report said detectives searched the home of the student and “located various airsoft style rifles and pistols, magazines, fake ammunition designed to give a realistic appearance and several knives and swords.”
Detectives also obtained a list of students’ names on a notepad that the juvenile had allegedly said he “wanted to kill,” according to statements given to detectives.
The arrest came after an anonymous tip from another student at Creekside Middle School led deputies to a group of students – from both Creekside and Silver Sands schools – who were involved in a FaceTime conversation with the juvenile, the report stated.
The students told detectives the 11-year-old showed them multiple firearms and knives, but they were not able to determine if the guns were real or not, according to the report.
When detectives questioned the juvenile about plans to commit a shooting, the juvenile said he “admittedly ‘joked’ about these comments but denied making any direct threat to either school.”
The 11-year-old said he showed the other students his Airsoft rifles and knives, but did not recall if he told them the guns were not real. He said the other students “began to discuss how (the juvenile) was going to complete a shooting” after he showed them the rifles and knives, the report stated.
The report said the juvenile told detectives he made the list of names “as a joke,” and “he had no intention of causing any of the listed individuals harm.”
On Friday, the sheriff released a video statement saying 54 calls had come through Fortify Florida’s tip line regarding school shootings, all “deemed bogus.”
Chitwood warned in the statement that beginning Monday, authorities will begin coming after the parents of any juveniles threatening school shootings online.
“And starting Monday, your little cherub? We’re going to start publishing his face and doing perp walks with him when we take him into custody, and then we’re going to show pictures of you, the parents. Because you don’t want to raise your kid, Sheriff Chitwood is going to raise them,” he said in the video. “Parents, get your kids in line, or your checkbook’s gonna hurt and your pride’s gonna hurt. I promise.”
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