MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — Thursday evening, deputies in Manatee County, Florida, claimed they detained a high school student for allegedly sending a fake tip about a school shooting.
According to the detectives, they conducted investigations in order to identify a person of interest, which ultimately led to probable cause for an arrest being established.
The teenager was reportedly taken into custody by investigators when they presented a juvenile pick order at the school where they were conducting their investigation.
According to the sheriff’s office, the student admitted to making up the incident “as a joke” after reporting it. The teenager was accused of causing a disturbance in a school setting and was charged with the offense.
According to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, this is the fourth student to be detained in the county in the past two days for making threats against schools.
On Thursday, two further students were taken into custody after posting films on separate platforms “depicting a mass shooting on campus,” according to the investigators.
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The Parrish Community High School was the target of four separate threats within the span of one week. On Tuesday, a smartphone app was used to make two separate bomb threats, which led to the school being cleared out and students being removed.
On Thursday, detectives stated that they are actively seeking leads on additional instances involving threats made against schools. “When we find who is responsible, we will arrest them,” said Sheriff Rick Wells. “We will take them to jail.”