Florida fifth grader arrested, charged for threatening mass shooting

A Florida fifth grader was arrested in Lee County over the weekend for threatening to conduct a mass shooting, according to officials.

The ten year old, an elementary school student, was charged with sending a text message that threatened a mass shooting, said Sheriff Carmine Marceno.

The sheriff’s department released a statement on Saturday saying they had received reports of a “threatening text message” sent earlier in the day in which a ten year old boy had threatened a mass shooting. The threat came only days after an elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that has left the country in shock and mourning 19 children and two teachers.

The ten year old in Lee County, who has not been identified publicly due to his age, was taken into custody and can be seen on video being put into a marked police car in handcuffs. “This student’s behavior is sickening, especially after the recent tragedy in Uvalde, Texas,” Marceno said. “Right now is not the time to act like a little delinquent. It’s not funny. This child made a fake threat, and now he’s experiencing real consequences.”

He continued, “We will have law and order in our schools! My team didn’t hesitate one second…NOT ONE SECOND, to investigate this threat.”

According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 17 mass shootings in the United States since the shooting in Uvalde. A mass shooting is defined as a shooting in which four or more people are shot, whether injured or killed, not counting the shooter.

The Uvalde shooting is the deadliest mass shooting since Parkland, Florida in 2018, when a lone gunman entered Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School and killed 17 people.