Two Leon County students have been arrested for threatening to shoot their classmates. The Leon County Sheriffs office says the teens discussed the idea through an internal school app.
Both male students attend Governors Charter Academy. One is 13, the other 14. School staff became aware of the talks and informed their school resource officers. The Florida Highway Patrol troopers contacted the Leon County Sheriff’s office to investigate.
One student said he wanted to commit a shooting similar to the Parkland High School Massacre, in which 17 people died and another 17 were injured. The other student asked if he could join.
The Sheriff’s office says neither student had a weapon and there were no plans to commit a shooting. But both have been charged with felony “written threats to do harm.”
In the wake of the Valentine’s Day shooting in Parkland students across the state leveled more than 100 copycat threats. It was difficult to charge students with a crime. But the Florida legislature changed the law making it easier to prosecute students for threats of violence against schools.
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