Police: Social media threats targeting Escambia County schools lead to two arrests

Two people have been arrested in connection to separate threats over social media about potential shootings at Pensacola area schools.

As reports of copycat threats stream through social media following Wednesday's shooting at a Parkland high school that left 17 students and faculty dead, local law enforcement and school officials say they are taking a zero tolerance stance.

Gabriel Harvell, 23, was identified as the suspect in a social media post overnight Thursday that threatened to “shoot up” Escambia High School, Pine Forest High School and Pensacola State College. Harvell has not yet been charged in relation to the social media post, but he was arrested on a violation of probation and stalking charge for which he was under an active warrant, according to Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan.

A 13-year-old Workman Middle School student was charged with disruption of a school function for allegedly sharing a social media message that alluded to a school shooting, according to Pensacola Police Department Capt. Stephen Davis.

“To say this is not a joking matter is to state it in the minimus, these are things we don’t joke about,” Morgan said.

ECSO, PPD, the State Attorney’s Office and the Escambia County School District held a joint press conference Friday afternoon to relay the seriousness of their response.

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ECSD Superintendent Malcolm Thomas made an emotional plea to parents and the community to keep Escambia County free of the tragedy that now is rocking the city of Parkland.

“School is not a place for a student to bring a weapon, and I’m asking parents to help me with this,” he said at the press conference. “If you have guns in your home, make sure your child does not have the combination to the safe. If they know that combination, change it. If they know where the key is hidden, rehide the key. And if you think your child does not have access to weapons, you need to verify that, check their book bag.”

Thomas said he has already addressed the Escambia County School Board about both the social media threats and facility security concerns that have surfaced in the wake of the most recent school massacre.

He declined to go into specifics about the district’s current safety measures, but he did say the leadership team would be meeting in the coming days to make an action plan for further securing all school buildings.

“Many more schools are hardened today than they were five years ago,” he said. “We know we still have work to do, you will see us accelerate that as rapidly as we can.”

Both Thomas and Morgan fielded questions about the potential to post more school resource officers to campuses to help with the problem, as well as implementing devices like metal detectors at entrance points.

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“I want to remind everyone there was a school resource officer at Columbine, there was a school resource officer in the school at Parkland,” Morgan said. “It depends on how many you have, where they are and are they in a position to respond. It takes a matter of seconds or minutes to wreak havoc in a school system in a confined area with a firearm.”

The suspect in the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was former student Nikolas Cruz, 19, who allegedly brought an AR-15 to the Parkland school’s campus, pulled a fire alarm and opened fire on students and faculty as they tried to evacuate.

Thomas said in an interview Friday that in most school shooting cases the perpetrator is a student or someone who already knows the school’s security situation and layout, which means that protecting the district from a school shooting goes beyond physical barriers.

He called on parents and the community to take notice, report any suspicious or unusual behavior, and to take ownership of the string of tragedies that is plaguing the country. If every parent made sure their child did not have access to weapons and could not bring a weapon to a school campus, it would equate to a much safer Escambia County, he said.

“There is so much chatter on social media, I have to believe that if the good parents in our community saw what their students were posting, and pictures, and what they were putting in print, they would be alarmed,” he said. “Get involved with your student… . We don’t want to be the headline like what happened on Wednesday.”

Emma Kennedy can be reached at ekennedy@pnj.com or 850-435-8680.