Middle school student arrested after threat to bring gun to school circulates online

Will Greenlee | Treasure Coast Newspapers

Show Caption Hide Caption Sheriff's officials arrest 13-year-old boy in connection with threat of bringing gun to school Martin County Sheriff William Snyder discusses the arrest of a 13-year-old boy in connection with making threats to bring a gun to school. Video produced August 29, 2018. WILL GREENLEE/TCPALM

STUART — After what investigators say was a threat via social media about bringing a gun to school, the 13-year-old boy accused in the incident called 911.

“It goes up on Facebook, it takes on a life of its own,” Martin County Sheriff William Snyder said.

“He calls our Sheriff’s Office to try to slow this freight train down, but there was no slowing it down.”

Although sheriff's officials released audio of the lengthy 911 conversation in which the teen boy notified dispatchers of what he did, TCPalm decided not to use it because the boy’s voice may identify him.

Snyder Wednesday spoke about the arrest the night before of a 13-year-old Murray Middle School student on a felony charge of written threats to kill.

More: Deputies: Teen claiming to be terrorist threatens to blow up St. Lucie County school bus

Snyder said the student sent an anonymous threat to another student via a social media app.

“The threat read, quoting, 'at school at 11 o’clock, I’m pulling my gun this is a warning,' ” Snyder said.

Snyder said the female student who got it posted it to another social media site.

“The threat began to circulate, causing much concern among parents and students,” Snyder said.

He said dispatchers got about 100 calls.

More: Port St. Lucie High School student arrested after reports of threat made on school bus

“With social media today and the internet, things move so fast,” Snyder said.

Snyder said at 8:17 p.m., the student got the threat through Lipsi, and posted it to social media.

At 8:55 p.m., the assistant superintendent for the school called a lieutenant in charge of the school resource officer program, who contacted two SRO deputies and two detectives. Snyder said dispatchers started getting calls.

“The suspect now realizes the text was posted and is concerned,” Snyder said. “He called dispatch and actually told them what was going on.”

Detective Brad Spencer said the boy said he made a bad joke, and that it was a mistake.

“He was very upset, very remorseful,” Spencer said.

Snyder said at 10:05 p.m., investigators went to the 13-year-old boy’s house. He was arrested within about 20 minutes.

“There was a time you could go into an airport and joke around about just about anything, and then, over time, we learned through experience that you can’t say things like gun, bomb, hijack,” Snyder said.

More: Police say 51-year-old woman dragged by vehicle in Port St. Lucie strong-arm robbery

Snyder said no weapons were found.

Not a joke

Asked what could be done to get the message across that such behavior is not a joke, Snyder said most of the responsibility is with family.

“You should have these conversations. I don’t think it’s asking too much,” Snyder said. “If you’re trusting a 13-year-old to have a telephone, cell phone that they can transmit to the world, I think the least the parent can do is sit down and have a heart-to-heart talk.”

TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers customarily does not name juveniles accused of crimes, but does name some juveniles depending on the seriousness of the crime, their age, aggravating circumstances and other factors.