PEMBROKE PINES, FLA. (WSVN) - Police arrested a 13-year-old girl in Pembroke Pines after, they said, she posted threatening messages on social media aimed at her former school.
According to Pembroke Pines Police, a tip alerted them on Friday about the Instagram posts.
Investigators said the messages, directed at students and staff at Renaissance Charter School, started on Thursday, with several updates.
Police said the girl, a former Renaissance Charter student, claimed she was on campus Friday morning.
She was taken into custody and charged with a second-degree felony for allegedly making the written threats.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Pembroke Pines Police wrote, “Whether written as a joke or a prank, out of frustration or anger, all threats made against our schools will be taken seriously.”
The teen’s arrest wasn’t the only case of social media threats aimed at a Broward County school on Friday.
Plantation High was placed on code red lockdown due to social media media threats, police said.
The lockdown caused panic inside the campus.
“I was leaving first period, and then I went to the bathroom, and it was passing period, and then everyone started screaming, “Code red!'” said a student.
A freshman who identified herself as Yahari described the message, posted by someone claiming to be a student with a gun.
“They tagged the school SGA group and they put, ‘I’m coming to kill everyone in that [expletive] school, trust me, especially the pregnant teacher,'” she said.
Yahari said she went inside a classroom as quickly as she could.
“We closed the windows, turned off the lights, and we just stayed in the classroom, making no noise,” she said.
Some of the parents who lined up in front of the school to pick up their children waited for hours.
“What I know is that they said at 12 or lunch period, somebody was supposed to come over here and shoot the place up, so we’re all here to pick up our kids, for safety reasons,” said a parent who identified himself as David.
As of late Friday night, no one has been arrested in connection to the Plantation High incident, but police continue to investigate.
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