Social Media Posting About Shooting at Tarpon Springs School Lands 7th Grader in Jail
Posted: April 11, 2017 – 4:15 p.m.
At. approximately 9:54 a.m. on Tuesday, April 11, 2017, Tarpon Springs Police received a call of a suspicious incident.
The incident involved an Instagram account posting that advised of a possible school shooting taking place today at Tarpon Springs Middle School (TSMS). Â The school is located at 501 N Florida Avenue in Tarpon Springs, Florida.
Authorities were alerted to the posting by a student who is home sick today and observed it on their Instagram account.
The school was placed on lockdown at approximately 10 a.m. and multiple officers were deployed in the area while detectives investigated the posting.
The lockdown and deployment of officers was a precautionary measure based on the limited information at the time.
According to Major Jeffrey Young of the Tarpon Springs Police Department, investigators identified the individual as a 7th grade student from TSMS who sent out the Instagram message, and determined he was not in school today. Investigators located him at his home were he was taken into custody.
Once it was determined there was no legitimate threat to the school, the lockdown was released at about 11:30 a.m.
The 7th grader is being charged with a 2nd degree felony of Written Communication to Kill under Florida Statute 836.10 and a misdemeanor Charge of Disruption of a School Function.
The investigation into this case is still active and at this point investigators do not believe any other individuals were involved in making this threat.
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