A 10-year-old boy was arrested on May 28 after he allegedly threatened to conduct a mass shooting at his school in Cape Coral, Florida, officials said.
Acting on a tip, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office responded to a “threatening” text message sent by a fifth-grade student on May 28. The School Threat Enforcement Team, which is part of the Youth Services Criminal Investigations Division, was notified and began “analytical research.”
Officers interviewed the child, established probable cause, and arrested him. He was charged with “making a written threat to conduct a mass shooting.”
The Youth Services division program, designed by Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno, includes as many as 74 school resource officers who provide security to approximately 65 schools within the county. The officers are experienced sheriff’s deputies who are assigned to schools in a full-time capacity to help ensure the facilities remain “a safe and secure learning environment.”
“The safety of our students, from the moment they leave their homes in the morning, until their return in the afternoon, is my utmost priority,” Marceno stated on the Lee County Sheriff’s website.
Marceno noted that officers were quick to investigate the mass shooting threat.
“We will have law and order in our schools! My team didn’t hesitate one second ... to investigate this threat,” he said.
Marceno also noted that this isn’t the time to be making false threats, in light of the tragedy in Uvalde, Texas.
“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,” Marceno said in a tweet on May 28.
Last week, an 18-year-old gunman went on a shooting rampage at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school, killing 19 children and two teachers.
“This student’s behavior is sickening, especially after the recent tragedy in Uvalde, Texas,” Marceno said in a statement. “Making sure our children are safe is paramount.”
On May 27, Marceno addressed the community concerning the Uvalde shooting: “You don’t get to shoot our children. You bring deadly force in this county, we are going to kill you.”
