Flagler County Students Charged With Planning School Shooting

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Palm Coast, FL - Days after two Flagler County high school students had charges filed on them for making threats against a teacher, two middle school students in the same county are arrested and charged with planning a school shooting.

Those boys - one 14 years old, the other 13 years old - face a felony charge of false report concerning the use of firearms in a violent manner and will be turned over to the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice once they're processed at Flagler County Jail. WNDB is not identifying the students who were charged.

Both boys attend Indian Trails Middle School and have already been suspended by school administrators, according to Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly.

"Threatening to bring guns on campus or to shoot anyone is no joking matter and has again led to the arrest of two students," Staly added. "The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office has a zero-tolerance policy on school threats. We don’t like making these arrests but all threats will be taken seriously and thoroughly investigated and, where appropriate, arrests or charges will be made."

According to their arrest reports, a girl who's also a student at Indian Trails Middle told school officials that she overheard those boys go over details of the plot yesterday (December 12th) while all three were on a school bus, upsetting her to the point that she cried.

She told a school resource deputy that the older of the two boys advised her to hide during the incident, indicating they would shoot at teachers and students either the following day or sometime during the school's formal dance.

The 14-year-old and the female student both provided statements to FCSO, with that boy telling deputies that he felt the other boy was joking around even though the 13-year-old had warned him repeatedly to not go to school the next day or to the dance, per his arrest report.

The 13-year-old refused to give a statement about the matter when questioned by a school official. Deputies did talk to the boy at his home after he was suspended, but any statements he made were redacted from his arrest report. His mother did tell FCSO her son didn't have access to any weapon at home stronger than a crossbow.

The report also notes that the younger of the two boys also thought about a separate plan where he'd draw people out of the building by pulling on the fire alarm and opening fire at that point.

Staly and Flagler Schools Superintendent James Tager are urging parents to have a serious discussion with their kids about school safety.

"We are committed to ensuring our schools are safe learning environments," Tager noted. "As we’ve seen numerous times over the past few weeks, any threat to that safety will be dealt with in a serious manner."