JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A total of nine Northeast Florida students have been arrested since the start of the school year and accused of making threats against a school.
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Law enforcement agencies in three counties announced arrests on Wednesday, including Duval County, Baker County and Columbia County.
Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters and Duval County Public Schools Superintendent Christopher Bernier held a news conference Wednesday afternoon and said that six students have been arrested recently and accused of making threats. The youngest arrested was 11 years old. Three of the arrests made included students at Duval County charter schools and two were students at public schools.
According to JSO, the 11-year-old student wrote: “Hello fellow citizens…Don’t worry, just don’t come to school tomorrow…Unless you want 15 pounds of lead added to you at an extremely fast rate.”
JSO Arrests Three Juveniles for Making School Threats
— Jax Sheriff's Office (@JSOPIO) September 11, 2024
Your Jacksonville Sheriff's Office (JSO), in partnership with Duval County Public Schools and the State Attorney’s Office, has arrested three juveniles - ages 11, 12, and 13 - for making threats of school-based violence.… pic.twitter.com/8t10WK8XdR
“Do not under any circumstance, in any school charter school, online make a threat to shoot up our school. We’re not going to sit back and allow you to make that threat,” Waters said at the conference.
Two students in Columbia County, 14 and 17, were also arrested for similar charges, officials announced.
“I can promise you this, as long as I’m sheriff here and this kind of stuff is going on, we’re going to hunt and we’re going to find and we’re going to hold these people accountable,” Sheriff Mark Hunter of Columbia County said.
April Stanavich has children who attend schools in Columbia County.
“It’s just kind of scary because we live in a time and era where you kiss your kids goodbye and you just gotta pray they come back home,” Stanavich said.
Columbia County Sheriff Mark Hunter made a promise to his community about the concerning threats.
Watch the full conference with Sheriff Waters and the DCPS superintendent below:
“As long as I’m sheriff here and this kind of stuff is going on, we’re going to hunt and we’re going to find and we’re going to hold these people accountable,” Hunter said.
Detectives with the Baker County Sheriff’s Office arrested a 16-year-old high school student Wednesday for sending a message through a social media platform stating that there would be a shooting at several of the county’s schools.
Over the past week, numerous law enforcement agencies in the region have been investigating similar incidents involving written threats to conduct shootings at schools.
The threats come in the wake of a deadly school shooting in Georgia.
Waters, Hunter and Bernier urged parents’ participation to help prevent further events like this from happening.
“Parents, we need you to have a difficult conversation with your children. There are certain things you should never say in an airport and similarly you should never state a threat to harm a school student or person in our community. If that happens, this community will use every tool it has to address it,” Bernier said.
“There’s absolutely ways to monitor your children on social media and they need to be,” Stanavich said.
While the conversation might be uncomfortable, clinical and forensic psychologist Justin D’Arienzo said it’s important for parents to discuss school shootings with their kids when they happen.
“This is not to scare the child, but also to remind them and check in with the child to see if they’re a threat at all, but also to discuss the nature of make about joking about this, taking things that we need to take things seriously and never to make any kind of threat, because whether somebody means it or not, I mean, the school is going to take it very seriously,” D’Arienzo said.
News4JAX Crime and Safety Analyst explained why there’s an increase in so many school threats.
“I feel like you see them from the kids that do this because it interrupts their day. You know, it’s kind of a win-win for them. If they have a test scheduled, they’re getting out of class in many cases it disrupts the school day,” Hackney said. “So, for them they don’t want to be there necessarily, to learn that’s a win, that’s a that’s a W in their books, except for the fact that comes with the F later, the felony charge, and you know that short-lived win that they may consider that’s going to carry with them for a very long time.”