Deputies from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office have arrested a 14-year-old boy for threatening a mass shooting at a school, the LiFT Academy in Seminole.
According to deputies, on October 15, 2019, the LiFT Academy School, located at 13400 Park Boulevard in Seminole, gave the parents of a 14-year-old male student the option to withdraw their son from the school or have him expelled because of an altercation that happened the week prior. The decision was made to withdraw the student from the school.
Deputies say after being withdrawn, the student sent text messages to a classmate stating “I’m finna shoot that school up.” In addition, he specifically mentioned two other classmates and a school faculty member as shooting targets in the text messages.
The next morning, a parent of the student that the student texted saw the messages and alerted the school of the messages.
The school immediately alerted the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office of the threats. As a precaution, LiFT Academy School activated a lockdown until deputies could make contact with the student.
Deputies quickly located the student at his residence where he remained cooperative during the investigation.
An adult family member allowed deputies to search the residence and it was determined that he had no access to any firearms.
He admitted to deputies that he sent the threats because he was “mad.”
Deputies arrested the student on October 16, 2019 for Written Threats to Kill or Do Bodily Injury; Electronic Communication. He was transported to the Pinellas County Juvenile Assessment Center without incident.
The Sheriff’s Office will continue to investigate all complaints of this nature. They encourage the public to report any suspicious activity to law enforcement immediately and say they will diligently investigate all reported information.
The investigation continues.