Three 12-year-olds arrested after threats to shoot up Broward school

Three students at a Pembroke Pines middle school have been arrested and charged with making threats on social media to shoot up their school.

Pembroke Pines police say the suspects are two 12-year-old boys and one 12-yearold girl at Silver Trail Middle School. Shortly before 3 p.m. on Sunday, school staff notified police of a Snapchat conversation between three students “that contained threatening messages.”

“Basically, one student said you should bring a gun to school, another said ‘I should’ and they made references like ‘I should shoot up the sixth grade,’ ” said Amanda Conwell, a spokeswoman for the police department.

The department’s threat assessment team was deployed; the three students were identified and their parents were notified, a release says. All three will be charged with a second-degree felony for making a written threat to do bodily harm or commit an act of terrorism. The female student is also being charged with second-degree felony for conspiracy to commit a criminal offense.

Police say there is no active threat to the school right now.

The school district has dealt with several security threats this school year. Afternoon bomb threats at Nova Middle in Davie on Aug. 27 and South Plantation High on Wednesday forced students and staff into the hot sun and some were taken to the hospital for heat-related issues.

No one has been arrested in the South Plantation threat. In the Nova case, “a juvenile was taken into custody on the day the threat was made,” said Sarah Andeara, a spokeswoman for Davie Police. She said the case was still active and declined to provide any additional details.

“There definitely seems to be an uptick,” School Board member Debbi Hixon said. “I often wonder if it’s coming out of COVID. They’ve been staying home alone on social media, and I feel like it gives them a higher level of anxiety. People have spent their time at home and are not having real in-person connections.”

Interim Superintendent Vickie Cartwright said in a video statement that the investigations completed have revealed that “sadly, the threats have been traced back to our own students.”

At Tuesday’s Broward School Board meeting, members will vote on whether to approve a $23,500 contract with a risk management company called Skopenow to monitor social media for potential threats.

The service would produce regular reports to the district. The district currently conducts manual social media searches after it receives tips, a district document says.

“Staff assessed the District’s current abilities, needs, and the availability of tools and platforms in the market, and determined a social media monitoring service would greatly enhance these efforts,” a district document attached to Tuesday’s agenda says.

Officials with Pembroke Pines police say they’ve been working with the school district to create and distribute “strong messaging to ... families about the severity of consequences that will occur to students who use social media or any other means” to make threats, a release says.

Both the police and the school district released statements saying they have no tolerance for threats, even if they’re intended as jokes or pranks.

“This situation serves as a reminder – when it comes to safety, there is no joking around,” Interim Superintendent Dr. Vickie Cartwright said. “Any statement that may be interpreted as a threat including bomb threats made via phone,

text, social media post or through other means will be acted on and there will be consequences.”

She said potential consequences include being arrested, going to trial and being expelled.

“We urge parents and guardians to discuss this with their children and ensure they understand how choosing to make a threat could impact their own lives.”

Hixon, whose husband Chris was killed in the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, said there need to be strict consequences for students who make threats, even for younger students.

“Unfortunately I can tell you the person who ended up taking 17 people’s lives had those thoughts at a very early age,” Hixon said. “For us to think, ‘it’s a 12-year old. How serious could it be?’ It could be very serious. You just don’t know.”