FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A South Florida teenager has been arrested after, police said, she was responsible for creating and sharing a school shooting threat on social media that ended up going viral.
7News cameras captured 18-year-old Catrina Petit in handcuffs as she was walked into the Broward County Jail, Friday night.
According to Coral Springs Police, Petit, a senior at J.P. Taravella High School in Coral Springs, made the threats and spread them around pretending to be another student in an effort to get that student in trouble.
Petit used another student’s school-issued computer, threatening to shoot up schools all across the area.
Police said they were able to trace her to that threatening text.
Part of the threat that Petit sent read, “I will shoot up the school and kill every student here. Tomorrow morning? Friday at 2:40 p.m. as the bell rings. But who knows. I may do it during the day or after the school day or in between classes. All I know is that everyone must die. Spread this message.”
She would sign the message “Sincerely, Devyn.”
The threat was shared among students and parents in Miami-Dade and Broward counties and prompted a heavier police presence at many schools
“it’s really scary,” said Broward County School Board Member Lori Alhadeff.
Detectives said Petit confessed to creating the threat. She is now facing multiple felony charges.
The shooting threat was first discovered Thursday afternoon, prompting local police departments to issue statements regarding the matter.
Authorities determined that the threat was not credible, but they were anxious to get to the bottom of it, which resulted in the student’s arrest.
According to a post on the Pinecrest Police Department’s Instagram, the department was alerted to an image containing a written threat to a school circulating on social media platforms.
Alhadeff said Petit’s arrest brings back painful memories after she lost her daughter Alyssa in the Parkland school massacre.
“People need to know this is not a joke. We take this very seriously, and they need to stop,” she said.
Students from Taravella High who spoke with 7News said they did not know Petit but were alarmed when they saw the message.
“It’s not a joke, it’s something serious,” said a student. “Some people take it farther than others, and some people just want the attention, but it’s not the attention you’d want to bring.”
“I come to school and I expect to be safe, and when something like that happens, it catches you by surprise,” said another student.
Petit will be charged as an adult.
Parents are urged to remind their children that any threat, even if they think it is a joke, will result in serious consequences. A threat made against a school is a second-degree felony in Florida, and students also face school disciplinary measures, including expulsion.
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