Today, St. Lucie County Sheriff’s School Resource deputies and Criminal Investigations detectives made an arrest in a string of social media threats that were made to Lincoln Park Academy students. A female juvenile, age 12, made specific and directed threats to at least four individuals through social media during the day yesterday and last evening. The threats included shooting and bombing comments and were specifically aimed at named students.
This morning, information was obtained through subpoena that led investigators to the identity of the student. She confessed to the threats saying she made the shooting and bombing threats to draw attention away from her lying about a potential riot at school earlier in the day.
According to Sheriff Ken Mascara, “The actions of this student created a significant safety concern for students, parents and our community. The safety and security of our children is paramount and we will vigorously investigate threats to do harm. We strongly encourage parents to discuss with their children the importance of social media responsibility and the ramifications of threatening comments and behavior”.
School officials reported that out of 1805 registered students, 542 were not in school today; compared to the 44 that were absent yesterday. “This created not only a disruption of school, but a disruption for each working family impacted by their children remaining home for safety concerns”, said Sheriff Mascara.
The investigation is ongoing and there may be other students involved. The student was arrested for four counts of Written threats to kill or do bodily injury (felony) and one count of Disruption of a school function (misdemeanor).
