Sheriff Warns Parents Following Boy’s Arrest Over Shooting Threat

If you’re tired of very badly behaved young people then Volusia County, Florida, Sheriff Michael Chitwood has a message that will be music to your ears.

Chitwood announced the arrest of an 11-year-old junior high student in Port Orange after the boy allegedly threatened a mass shooting at the school. Chitwood said the boy had “written a list of names and targets,” and then said “it was all a joke.” Chitwood does not think it’s funny, and he wants parents to know how seriously he takes threats of violence.

Though the boy has not been identified yet, that’s coming. Chitwood addressed a group of reporters, and spoke to the boy, calling him a “little cherub.” The Sheriff said that he is going to publish the boy’s photo and do a “perp walk” as he’s taken into juvenile custody. And the boy’s parents aren’t off the hook either. Chitwood said he’s going to publish pictures of the parents, too, and if parents don’t want to raise their children, he’s going to do it himself.

The boy has been charged with a felony related to sending a written threat to commit a “mass shooting/terrorist act.” Detectives went through the boy’s home and found a cache of toy rifles and ammunition magazines “designed to give a realistic appearance.”

They also found a list of the names of other students the boy had written down that he allegedly “wanted to kill.”

A student at Creekside Middle School sent cops an anonymous tip about the boy, whom the complaining student had spoken to over a video call with another student. These two reporting students told police that the boy showed off his knives and guns to them, and they could not tell if they were toys or the real thing.

When police questioned the boy, he said that he was joking and claimed he made no direct threat to students at any school. When asked about showing off his weapons, the boy said he couldn’t remember if he told his friends that they were not real. He claimed the other kids he was talking to started discussing how the boy would carry out the mass shooting.

Last week, Sheriff Chitwood put out a video statement saying that more than 50 calls to a tip line about school shootings were all “bogus.” But he’s not tolerating anymore of this, and parents of kids who make such threats are going to find themselves answering questions from law enforcement, he said.