Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Runcie: Kids’ threats toward schools an ‘alarming trend’
Ever since the passing of a state law prompted by the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, Florida students have faced arrest for making threats of violence, whether real or not.
After four children were arrested in Broward County this week, it seems some kids may not be getting the message, or understanding the consequences of their actions:
Miramar Police on Wednesday arrested a ninth-grade boy who attends Everglades High School. He falsely claimed he was going to shoot up the school, and told police he had been bullied, a report said.
Also on Wednesday, a 14-year-old boy who attends Franklin Academy in Pembroke Pines posted on Instagram a photograph of a friend holding an Airsoft pellet rifle, with the messages “See You Monday” and “G[ood] N[ight] Franklin,” police said. The teen told police he did not intend to threaten the school.
On Thursday, a 13-year-old boy at Silver Trail Middle School was accused of saying during class: “I know why people shoot up schools. I wish I could do it right now,” Pembroke Pines police said on the agency’s Facebook page. The statements were overheard by a teacher and several students at the school, at 18300 Sheridan St., according to police.
And on Tuesday, a 9-year-old who was purportedly being bullied made threats that were real, police say, when he aimed a loaded pistol toward three classmates at Lauderhill Paul Turner Elementary School.
The incidents are part of an “alarming trend,” according to an Oct. 2 letter to parents from Broward Schools’ Superintendent Robert Runcie.
Chief Assistant Public Defender Gordon Weekes said, “The only trend I’m seeing is the school district isn’t noticing that these children are crying out for help.”
The Broward Public Defender’s Office is representing the students in the Miramar and Lauderhill cases. Weekes said the boy in the Miramar case “is a special needs child. He’s developmentally delayed and requires and needs attention, especially when he wants to be treated like every other child and not be picked on because of his issues.”
A schools district spokeswoman said there were approximately
nine to 11 incidents so far in the 2018-2019 school year, but would not say whether those estimates include the four incidents this week.
The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Act became law in March, less than a month after the school shooting in which 17 people were killed and 17 others were wounded.
In his letter, Runcie said the legislation makes threats of violence toward a school a second-degree felony, and that “The law does not differentiate between a joke, a prank or a serious threat.”
Convictions can lead to prison sentences of up to 15 years and a $10,000 fine, Pembroke Pines police said. But rather than long prison terms, juvenile offenders might be sentenced to probation or diversion programs instead.
Violent school threats used to happen “from time to time,” but incidents have spiked since February, Maria Schneider told the South Florida Sun Sentinel last month. She is the supervising prosecutor in the juvenile division of the Broward state attorney’s office.
Threats have been made to schools in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, too.
And the cops aren’t playing.
“People no longer are willing to accept the ‘joke’ excuse,” Pembroke Pines police spokeswoman Amanda Conwell recently told the Sun Sentinel. “The majority of people have a ‘no tolerance’ viewpoint when it comes to threats of this nature.”
Kids’ violent messages — whether spoken or shared in email or on social media — are getting stronger responses from authorities than they may have anticipated.
The two boys who were arrested on Wednesday and the third teen arrested Thursday all face a charge of making a false report concerning the use of a firearm in a violent manner.
The 14-year-old who attends the Franklin Academy, at 5000 SW 207th Terrace in Pembroke Pines, used his friend’s photo without permission. The child in the original photo had been out shooting a pellet gun with friends when it was taken, and is not charged in the case, police said.
The 16-year-old boy who attends Everglades High, at 17100 SW 48th Court in Miramar, denied to a teacher that he made comments about shooting up the school, but said he was regularly bullied by a classmate who belittled his intelligence and mimicked his speech. He told the taunting student that he had a gun in his book bag to get him to stop picking on him, an arrest report said. Police did not find any weapons at the child’s home.
“We want to clarify that this arrestee made a verbal threat in a classroom,” Miramar police spokeswoman Tania Rues said Thursday in an email. “Another student posted a message on social media advising E[verglades] H[igh] S[chool] students not to go to school because of the threat that was made.”
As for the child accused of bringing a loaded pistol to Lauderhill Paul Turner Elementary school, he is facing charges of possession of a firearm on school property and three counts of aggravated assault.
A judge ordered the thirdgrader to home confinement for three weeks as he undergoes a psychological evaluation and three police agencies investigate the situation.
Police said the gun had belonged to the boy’s father, who was not charged with any offense. The 9-year-old had not been in trouble before, Weekes said.