PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. – Dozens of school threats have been reported since a deadly school shooting at a Georgia high school earlier this month, including several locally.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said the growing number of threats “is not a joke,” and anyone caught making a threat will be punished.
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“If you’re doing that, you’re going to be held accountable,” DeSantis said. “You look at people around the state, I think they are taking it very seriously.”
Some have questioned the tactic some Florida law enforcement agencies are using of showing the mugshots of children accused of making threats, while others say they think the effort will show students and their parents how serious these threats are for their communities.
RELATED: Florida sheriff fed up with school shooting hoaxes posts boy’s mugshot to social media | Sheriff’s posting of the mugshot of a Florida boy accused of school threat draws praise, criticism
The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office has shared several mugshots this week of children and young teens accused of making threats, including three on Thursday alone. The county has made an arrest related to a school threat almost every day this week.
NOTE: News4JAX is not sharing the mugshots because of our crime and safety reporting guidelines.
On Monday, a 13-year-old Palatka Junior-Senior High School student and an 11-year-old student at Putnam Academy of Arts and Sciences were charged related to school threats. Two days later, a 14-year-old student at Interlachen Junior-Senior High School was accused of using a school computer to make a threat.
MORE: 3 Putnam County students charged in same week with making threats against schools
Then on Thursday, the Sheriff’s Office made three arrests. In the first, an 11-year-old Browning Pearce Elementary School student was charged with bringing a knife to school. Deputies said she planned to use it against a student who was talking to her boyfriend.
The other incident involved the arrest of two boys at Mellon Learning Center. Investigators said a 13-year-old began making a gun out of clay and other items before pointing it at other students. When a teacher told him that was not appropriate, he told the teacher he would come back with his shotgun and extra ammo, deputies said.
As that teen was being taken out of class, a 14-year-old said he would do the same.
Both boys were arrested and charged with felonies.
“They purposely disrupted a class, causing fear and panic among the other students. They clearly do not care that they have received chances to improve and so they can spend some time at the Department of Juvenile Justice,” Putnam County Sheriff H.D. “Gator” DeLoach said. “If they continue at this level, the prison system is where they will spend the majority of their lives.”