A 14-year-old boy has been arrested and charged with sending a written threat to conduct a mass shooting after sending messages referencing a school shooting through Instagram to fellow students.
A parent of one of the students found the messages (the messages from the suspect had been sent to their child) on their child’s cell phone and promptly contacted the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office. The messages included a photo of the suspect holding what appeared to be a black handgun.
Further messages mentioned the suspect’s plans to “shoot up” Buddy Taylor Middle School on December 21, 2022. The suspect is a former student of BTMS who was removed from the Flagler County School System during the 2021-2022 school system due to disciplinary issues.
The suspect’s mother drove him to the Flagler County Jail Administration upon contact from investigators. The student was arrested and charged with sending a written threat to conduct a mass shooting. The investigation determined there was no active threat as the former student was in Volusia County with no mode of transportation to the school.
“Threats such as these are not a joke and will always be taken seriously and quickly investigated,” Sheriff Rick Staly said. “We don’t like making these arrests, but we will protect Flagler County students to the best of our ability any time a threat such as this one occurs. Thank you to the parent who found messages on their child’s phone and then reported it to us so we could take swift action to prevent an incident from occurring within Flagler County Schools and making a quick arrest.”
The juvenile was placed under arrest and transported to the Department of Juvenile Justice. Sheriff Staly wants parents to talk to their students about the consequences of sending threats to commit violence. The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office will arrest any student who threatens violence against anyone.
