14- year- old arrested for making school threats

POMPANO BEACH — A 14- year- old middle school student was arrested and booked into the Juvenile Assessment Center early Wednesday after making threats toward their school via social media, authorities said.

The Broward Sheriff ’s Office said it was notified about 9 p. m. Tuesday of the threats made on Snapchat and directed toward Pompano Beach Middle School.

Shortly afterward, the Broward Sheriff ’s Office Threat Management Unit was notified of the situation.

Detectives located the student responsible for the threats, and the 14- year- old was arrested and booked into the Juvenile Assessment Center on one count of written threats to kill.

Threats toward schools via social media have been an issue this year, according to school officials.

In September, three Pembroke Pines middle school students were arrested for social media threats on Snapchat referencing the idea of committing a shooting at their school.

School officials also say fights and assaults on teachers have reached a concerning level this school year.

About two weeks ago, a Parkland high school student was arrested after making threats against Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on social media. On Feb. 14, 2018, 17 people were killed and 17 were injured during a shooting at the school.

Last week, a 12- year- old at Walter C. Young Middle School in Pembroke Pines was arrested after he was found to have four knives, a slingshot and two rocks in his backpack. The student didn’t make any threats toward the school.

Broward Sheriff Greg Tony said there is a “consistent pattern” the Sheriff ’s Office is seeing of students writing threats against schools on social media. Some make them as jokes, some do it to create fear and others have been “legitimate threats,” he said, that have been reported to officers.

There have been some cases of those making the threats that do have access to firearms, but whether they have the ability to carry out the threat does not diminish the threat, Tony said.

“The ability to access firearms in this country is very easy,” Tony said. “There’s almost 10 plus firearms for every American here, according to some different statistics, and the ability for someone to locate and access a firearm can happen within hours.”

The Sheriff ’s Office Threat Management Unit, created in 2019 after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, investigates threats made against schools. Wednesday’s arrest is a “prime example” of what those investigators have seen, Tony said.

Students, parents and school employees have all reported recent threats. Some students who have made threats against schools don’t understand the severity of making the threats, which is a felony, while other students are concerned enough to report them to law enforcement, Tony said.

“I think that speaks to the severity behind it. It’s not being dismissed by fellow students. Students are reporting this. Students are sending screenshots to our investigators showing the dialogue amongst the students of, ‘ I’m going to shoot up the school. I have a kill list,’ ” Tony said.

Tony urged parents to educate their students about the long- term consequences of making these threats against their schools and to understand the social media sites they are using and the conversations they are having with classmates.

“There will not be a warning. There will not be a slap on the wrist. There will not be a citation. They will be placed in handcuffs and escorted over to our facility,” Tony said.