Orange City, FL - A 15-year-old boy, who is a student at River Springs Middle School in Orange City, has been arrested for allegedly commenting that it would be "funny to shoot up the school."
Volusia County Sheriff's Office (VCSO) says that one student was at River Springs on Wednesday when she overheard the 15-year-old make the comments about shooting up the middle school and that another student responded, "I'm down." The two students making the comments began laughing. The girl reported the incident to school staff and posted a warning on Instagram in response to what she heard.
Wednesday night, a VCSO deputy responded to the boy's home and interviewed the boy and his mother. The teen was arrested and charged with a felony for making a threat to discharge a destructive device. The 15-year-old is the 19th student charged by VCSO for making a threat against a local school since the deadly mass shooting in Parkland, FL on February 14.
"We and school officials are emphasizing, trying to plead with parents and students just to act responsibly," says Laura Williams, Public Information Officer for VCSO. "Talk to your kids, know what they have in their backpacks, and remind them how serious this is."
"Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood and the Sheriff’s Office continue to have zero tolerance for threats and jokes about shootings, bombings, and other acts of violence. Anyone who continues to make such statements will face criminal charges. Defendants or their families will be held responsible for the cost of the Sheriff’s Office’s response to their cases," VCSO said in a press release on Thursday.
VCSO has also confirmed that a bullet was found in the boy's locker room of Pine Ridge High School in Deltona on Tuesday. No weapon was found, and there was no threat to students or staff, but a similar instance occurred in February, where two bullets were found in a weight room at Pine Ridge High. You can read more about that story
here.
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