A Gainesville child didn’t want to go to school, so he and another child made a fake school shooting threat on Instagram.
Police were notified Wednesday night about an 11 and 15-year-old who were accused of creating an Instagram profile of a fake person threatening to kill people at Westwood Middle School, so at least one of them didn’t have to attend school the next day, according to a Gainesville Police press release. The post was made Wednesday.
Both minors attend Alachua County Public Schools, and at least one attends Westwood, according to Gainesville Police.
The two minors were arrested Wednesday night and taken to the Alachua County Juvenile Assessment Center on charges of written threats to kill or injure, GPD said Thursday morning. They both are not at school Thursday.
There is no police activity at the school today. Police said they believe there isn’t any immediate threat to the school, according to a police release.
The release did not say if the two still remained at the juvenile center as of noon Thursday.
Police said two concerned parents notified them Wednesday night about a social media post from an account saying he or she is going to “shoot up” the middle school.
Other parents were notified about the incident, said Jackie Johnson, Alachua County Public School District spokesperson. The students will be facing serious consequences.
Johnson said the minors will most likely remain in juvenile detention for 21 days. She urged parents to talk to their children about the gravity of making school shooting threats.
“Unfortunately, in today’s society it’s something we have to deal with,” Johnson said.
Contact Dana Cassidy at dcassidy@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter @danacassidy_.
