SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - A student has been arrested after making online threats against a Southwest Miami-Dade high school.
School district officials are trying to crack down on these threats whether they come from students or anyone else.
In this latest case, district officials said a student at G. Holmes Braddock Senior High School made an online threat via social media, Monday morning.
The student has been identified as 15-year-old Brandon Fernandez.
“I’m still scared to go to school, especially when people like that make threats, even as a joke,” said Daimi Herrera, a student.
Fernandez posted the threatening message in a group chat.
The message read, “I am going to attempt a mass murder on Monday October 7 at G. Holmes Senior High. You have the warning. Don’t be surprised when I walk into your class and start shooting everyone. You have been pre notified of this special event on Monday. Thank you and I hope many of you will show up. I am looking forward to it.”
A friend of Fernandez notified the police.
“It’s a really serious matter, so I don’t know why people joke about it. Like, it’s not something to be made fun of,” said Herrera.
Parents, students, faculty and staff said they are upset about the rise in threats.
“There’s nothing funny about it, as a matter of fact,” said Yamila Gonzalez, a student’s aunt. “It’s actually really scary that students are actually making threats to other students or to a school, period.”
School districts have been working with their students and the community to make sure everyone understands the consequences of making threatening comments, real or not.
“Even after Parkland or before Parkland, it really doesn’t matter,” said Gonzalez. “People are still making threats, and people are still doing what they want to do.”
Fernandez has been charged with a felony.
Miami-Dade Public Schools is set to host a news conference centered around making threats towards schools, Tuesday.
They are set to launch a new campaign called the No Joke Campaign in an effort to put a stop to threats at schools across Miami-Dade County.
Earlier, a threat was made via social media at a Tamarac school.
Broward Sheriff’s Office’s regional communications department received word of the threat Sunday night and decided to beef up its presence outside Millennium 6-12 Collegiate Academy, Monday morning.
7News cameras captured the additional deputies hanging around the school throughout the morning.
BSO’s Real Time Crime Center, which monitors surveillance video across schools in the county, took extra time to keep an eye on cameras inside the threatened school.
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