(NewsNation) — A 10-year-old Florida boy is in custody after his father turned in him for threatening to open fire at a school, police said.
The investigation began Wednesday when officials at Wakulla High School were alerted to a social media threat after the school day ended, the Wakulla County Sherriff’s Office said in a post on Facebook. A student told a school resource officer of a Snapchat conversation they had with another person who said, “Yes I’m finna Shoot up your school It’s yalls last day.”
The sheriff’s office located south of Tallahassee enlisted the help of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s cybercrimes unit to identify the person who allegedly made the threat, and deputies interviewed the boy Thursday at his home in neighboring Leon County. After police obtained an arrest warrant, the boy’s father turned him in, according to the sheriff’s office.
The agency told school officials Thursday morning there was no threat to Wakulla High School or any other school in the district.
The 10-year-old faces a charge of making a written or electronic threat to kill, do bodily injury, or conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism.
Florida school shooting threat is latest this year
The arrest in Florida comes less than a month after two students and two teachers died in a shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia, where students are returning to class Tuesday.
Police say 14-year-old student Colt Gray slipped out of math class on the morning of Sept. 4 with an AR-15-style rifle given to him by his father. Within minutes, sounds of gunshots rippled across the hall and students crouched behind desks as teachers barricaded classroom doors.
Within two days of the shooting, Gray was charged with four counts of murder, and his father with related charges. Officials say Gray shot and killed Christian Angulo and Mason Schermerhorn, both 14, and teachers Richard Aspinwall, the 39-year-old football coach, and Cristina Irimie, 53. Another teacher and eight other students were injured.
Elsewhere in Florida, a string of hoax threats has prompted a sheriff to begin shaming the alleged juvenile suspects on social media.
Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said he’s tired of the hoaxes targeting students, disrupting schools and sapping law enforcement resources. In social media posts, Chitwood has warned parents that if their kids are arrested for making threats, he’ll make sure the public knows.
Chitwood recently posted the full name and mug shot of an 11-year-old boy who allegedly threatened to carry out a school shooting. While many praised Chitwood online, the sheriff’s tactics sparked criticism from some who say the weight of the responsibility should fall on the boy’s parents.
Under Florida law, juvenile court records are generally exempt from public release — but not if the child is charged with a felony, as in this case.
Parents charged over children’s actions
The charges against Colt Gray’s father resemble a case in Michigan where the parents of Ethan Crumbley were convicted of manslaughter after their son shot and killed classmates at Oxford High School in 2021.
Prosecutors said during the separate trials of Jennifer and James Crumbley that the parents were grossly negligent when they failed to tell Oxford High School officials that the family had guns, including a 9 mm handgun that was used by their son at a shooting range just a few days earlier.
Besides knowledge of the gun, the Crumbleys are accused of ignoring their son’s mental health needs. In a journal found by police in his backpack, the son wrote his parents wouldn’t listen to his pleas for help.
In another case in Virginia, Deja Taylor, the mother of a 6-year-old boy who shot his first grade teacher at school, was sentenced to two years in prison after she pleaded guilty to one felony count of child neglect.
In states like California and Illinois, strict “safe storage” laws require firearms to be securely locked away, especially in homes with minors. Failure to do so can result in criminal charges if the weapon is accessed and used in an act of violence.
Trial attorney Mercedes Colwin says parents are contemplating their own freedom when they weigh the decision on whether to speak up.
“They’re afraid,” Colwin told NewsNation. “They’re afraid of the penalties. They’re afraid of the criminal charges. They’re afraid of the process.”
Critics of these arrests and charges, meanwhile, argue that while parental responsibility is important, the root cause of gun violence — easy access to firearms — must be addressed.
They’re calling for stricter gun control measures and federal legislation on safe storage.
NewsNation digital producer Jeff Arnold and The Associated Press contributed to this report.