Florida fifth grader threatened mass shooting: police

A 10-year-old boy in Florida was arrested on Saturday for allegedly threatening in a text message to conduct a mass shooting, according to local police.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office said the fifth grader at a Cape Coral elementary school had sent a “threatening text message,” and authorities arrested him later that day. He was charged with making a written threat to conduct a mass shooting.

The investigation came just days after a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 students and two teachers dead. 

“This student’s behavior is sickening, especially after the recent tragedy in Uvalde, Texas,” Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno (R) said in a statement. 

Local police have come under scrutiny for their response to the Uvalde shooting after it was revealed the gunman was in the building for more than an hour before Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents entered the classroom and killed him. Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw said on Friday that authorities made the wrong decision to wait to confront the gunman.

Marceno, who brands himself as Florida’s “law and order” sheriff, said the boy who allegedly sent the threatening text message would face “real consequences.”

“Making sure our children are safe is paramount,” Marceno said. “We will have law and order in our schools! My team didn’t hesitate one second…NOT ONE SECOND, to investigate this threat.”

Marceno’s office also posted a video of a boy who appears to be the fifth grader walking out of the sheriff’s office in handcuffs.

“Right now is not the time to act like a little delinquent,” said Marceno. “It’s not funny. This child made a fake threat, and now he’s experiencing real consequences.”