COOPER CITY, FLA. (WSVN) - Authorities said they have arrested two Broward County students for making separate threats against the school system in social media just days into the new academic year.
According to the Broward Sheriff’s Office, on Saturday, a 13-year-old boy was arrested after detectives with BSO’s Threat Management Unit received a tip from the FBI about a Snapchat post in which he threatened a mass shooting at Broward County Public Schools’ offices in Fort Lauderdale.
Detectives said the student posted a partial photo of himself, along with the written threat, because he was upset over the district’s new cellphone policy, which requires students to turn them off or put them in airplane mode while in school. The teen was taken into custody at his home in Weston.
On Thursday, detectives received another tip from the FBI about a Snapchat threat against Cooper City High School. That tip led to the arrest of a 13-year-old girl.
Both students face felony charges of making written threats to kill, do bodily injury, conduct a mass shooting or commit an act of terrorism. They also face an additional charge of using a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony, as per Florida law.
“None of this stuff is a joking or laughing matter,” said Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony. “If you threaten … on social media or anywhere else, we are going to track you down and arrest you.”
The arrests come less than two weeks after BSO officials held a news conference where they said that threats against schools would be taken seriously and thoroughly investigated.
“We definitely understand the impact that a safe and secure environment has on the academic performance of our students,” said BCPS Superintendent Dr. Howard Hepburn.
“Our fundamental priority is to make sure we safeguard the people that are in these buildings so that they can get home,” said Tony. “I want this community, our school board and our partners to know that we’re prepared, we’re doing the things that are important, and we are going to continue to test our capabilities before bad things happen.”
Broward County schools are staying prepared online and in real life, beginning the school year with active shooter drills.
Detectives said they are also investigating two additional threats that could result in further arrests.
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