Florida teenager arrested over threats to shoot teacher and students during online lesson
Fifteen-year-old allegedly told students ‘you guys better hide. I’m gonna shoot it up’ after entering online class
A 15-year-old from Florida has been arrested after he allegedly threatened to shoot a teacher and students during an online lesson.
The teenager, who has not been named as he is still a minor, entered a virtual lesson for Pompano Beach Middle School (BSO) in Broward County at around 10:43am on Thursday, despite being a student at a different school in the area, authorities said.
When he entered the lesson, he allegedly told the class: “You guys better hide. I’m gonna shoot it up,” before he turned his camera on and started dancing, according to Broward Sheriff’s Office Threat Management Unit (TMU).
The lesson was halfway through when the teenager joined on Thursday and it is currently unclear how he was able to get into the virtual class.
In response to the threat, the school was placed on lockdown and the campus was searched, as some BSO staff and students were in the building at the time of the incident.
School security monitored security cameras on campus, as deputies responding to the threat quickly determined that there was no immediate danger to those in the building.
The teenager was arrested by detectives later that day following a short investigation, and he was taken to Broward’s Juvenile Assessment Centre, where he is currently being held.
The 15-year-old is facing charges of false report of a bomb or firearm, written threats to kill and disruption of a school function.
The incident came just a few days after a student was fatally shot in a school shooting in Arkansas, on the first day back of in-person learning amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Last month, President Joe Biden called for stricter gun laws while marking the third anniversary of the deadly school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Speaking on the anniversary, Mr Biden said: “This Administration will not wait for the next mass shooting to heed that call” to enact gun reforms, adding: “We owe it to all those we’ve lost and to all those left behind to grieve to make a change. The time to act is now.”
Although several deadly school shootings have shocked the US over the last two decades, politicians have failed to enact stricter gun laws due to strong opposition from Republican lawmakers and 2nd Amendment allies.