TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Law enforcement and education officials in Florida are dealing with a flood of threats against K-12 schools this fall and are taking drastic measures to protect students.
A growing number of schools are turning to metal detectors to thwart students from bringing weapons on campus grounds, as a string of student arrests across the state has local leaders on high alert. And sheriffs frustrated by a wave of school shooting threats pouring into schools have decided to dish out public embarrassment to parents and students — some as young as 11 years old — who break Florida’s school safety laws.
These incidents of threatened school violence appear to have only ramped up since the recent Georgia high school shooting, where four people were killed, spreading fear through communities while disrupting education for students across the state.
“This is absolutely out of control, and it ends now,” Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said on Friday after two students were arrested for threatening school violence.
“You don’t stand up on an airplane and yell ‘hijack,’ you don’t walk into a movie theater and yell ‘fire,’ and you don’t get online and post that you’re going to shoot up a school,” Chitwood said. “It’s going to get your ass sent to jail.”
Florida has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on school safety improvements and introduced numerous policy shifts since the Parkland high school shooting rocked the state six years ago when a gunman killed 17 people. Most notably, Republican leaders cleared the way for schools to arm employees — including teachers — with firearms to meet a state law requiring there to be at least one armed guard on every campus.
So far this fall, the state’s school safety resources are being put to the test as threats and tips about potential violence pour into campuses. Most have been declared hoaxes or non-credible, yet those instances still led to students being arrested for disrupting school safety and can lead to expulsion. There have also been several students arrested across the state since school began this year for bringing weapons on campus.
“If people are issuing some of these threats, like an idle threat, we take that very seriously, even if you have no intent on following through with it,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday when asked about the issue at an event in Orlando. “That creates a lot of consternation in the community. It creates a lot of anxiety with parents, and we will absolutely hold you responsible.”
The threats have spanned the state, with students as young as 11 years old posting about school shootings on Instagram and other social media platforms as new cases emerge by the day.
After a flurry of threats last week, at least five students were arrested across Florida on Monday. Among those arrests: Two 15-year-olds warned online they would “shoot up” their respective high schools — one in Tampa and one in St. John’s County. Authorities in both cases determined the students did not have access to firearms.
Threats of violence prompted widespread absences last week in Tallahassee, with more than 1,000 students missing class at one high school and a quarter of students at another, according to Leon County Schools. The school district received at least 500 tips surrounding vague threats on social media that were found to be bogus — but there have also been Leon students arrested for having loaded guns at school this year.
“Parents, your children are safe. I promise you they’re safe,” Leon Superintendent Rocky Hanna told reporters during a Sept. 13 press conference. “When we start not sending kids to school because of these fears, then the bad guys win.”
As law enforcement and school leaders urge parents to take heed and students to stop issuing fake threats, Chitwood in Volusia County decided to publicly display shocking images of young students being arrested to demonstrate the punishment that it brings.
Chitwood’s agency on Monday posted arrest and booking footage and a mugshot of an 11-year-old Port Orange student who made threats against two local middle schools. While Florida law enforcement is known to publicly detail arrests on social media, these cases don’t usually involve minors.
The student had a list of names and targets, the sheriff’s department said, and was in possession of airsoft guns, fake ammunition and several swords and knives that he showed students.
He told authorities it was all a joke, but now faces a felony charge of making a written threat of a mass shooting.
“I can and will release the names and photos of juveniles who are committing these felonies, threatening our students, disrupting our schools and consuming law enforcement resources,” Chitwood posted on social media Monday.
Law enforcement in Putnam County, just north of Volusia, is taking similar action and have already this week posted the mugshots of two minors who were arrested for threatening school shootings. In the latest case, an 11-year-old was arrested Monday night for displaying realistic-looking airsoft guns in a message telling students not to come to school tomorrow. Both students arrested in Putnam this week told investigators the threats were a joke.
“We, like the parents who entrust the school system with our children, do not find this funny,” the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office posted on social media Tuesday. “We will continue to arrest and post photos of students who commit these felonies. Under Florida public records a juvenile arrested for a felony is subject to having their name and photo released.”
The threat of weapons entering campus has led to more schools pursuing metal detectors as a deterrent. Broward County started the school year with new metal detectors, causing some delays at the massive school district with long lines to attend class early in the school year. Others, such as Brevard County, are rolling them out now on the heels of the campus shooting in Georgia earlier this month.
Florida schools can use metal detectors “as they see fit,” DeSantis said Monday, while also acknowledging they can be an “interruption” for students. He added that metal detectors are “not something we’d mandate in Florida.”
“Florida takes school safety more seriously than any state in the country,” DeSantis said. “We've done more to invest in resources, whether it's school resource officers, whether it's other accouterments that can help deter anything happening at our schools.”
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