Two students in Volusia County were arrested on Friday after they allegedly made written threats against their schools.
According to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, the first student – a 15-year-old boy – “wrote a threat on his school laptop to bring a gun to Deltona High School.” He also allegedly threatened to “shoot another student” at the school.
Due to these written threats, a “Gaggle alert” was triggered, which notified the school resource deputy of the incident. The sheriff’s office stated that the deputy located and detained the 15-year-old student before he could get on the bus to go home.
While speaking with law enforcement, the 15-year-old student allegedly admitted to typing the threat on his laptop. He claimed that he “didn’t mean it” and was “just angry about being picked on.”
The second student – a 13-year-old boy – was detained by law enforcement after allegedly drawing an “AR-15 style rifle” on his desk at River Springs Middle School. Written near the drawing were the words “F*** my school,” along with a date and time, according to VCSO.
The 13-year-old student told law enforcement that he had previously been bullied at the middle school. However, he told law enforcement that he did not report the incident because he was “handling it on his own.”
Both students were placed under arrest and transported to the Volusia Family Resource Center for processing. They are facing second-degree felony charges.
“Bullying is a serious problem, but threats can’t be the answer,” said VCSO in a social media post. “Parents, please talk to your kids about both of these issues.”