JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Five students — one as young as 11 — were arrested after making threats to schools, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.
Sheriff T.K. Waters said Wednesday during a press conference that three students between the ages of 11 and 13, one female and two males, have been arrested by JSO.
For the JSO arrests, the threats were made in group chats and social media messages against charter schools River City Science Academy, IDEA River Bluff Charter School and IDEA Bassett Charter School. They do not appear related, the agency said.
“Hello fellow citizens … Don’t worry, just don’t come to school tomorrow … Unless you want 15 pounds of lead added to you at an extremely fast rate,” an 11-year-old wrote in a group chat threat toward RCSA, according to JSO.
Waters said the 12-year-old said he would shoot up a school, contacting IDEA River Bluff Charter School via an Instagram message on Monday. The 13-year-old posted about IDEA Bassett Charter School on an Instagram story, stating: "Don't come to school tomorrow if you want to live."
Duval County Public Schools Superintendent Christopher Bernier who joined Waters in the press conference, saying two students were arrested by the Duval School Police.
One was a 16-year-old boy who was arrested after multiple students reported that he said he would bring a gun to Mandarin High School and "take 20 people" according to a police report. The other was a 13-year-old who was arrested in connection to a bomb threat to the school on Sept. 10.
Bernier said parents need to have difficult conversations with their children and said there are some things you simply can't say.
"A threat can never be dismissed as a joke or a prank," Bernier said.
"Students and teachers deserve to be safe and safe in our schools," Waters said. "This agency will not under any circumstance, tolerate the victimization of children, even if those committing these crimes are children themselves."
There have been nine school shooting threat-related arrests since Aug. 1 in Jacksonville, JSO said.
Waters said the agency will not sit back to "see if threatening words will be coupled with violence."
Waters was asked how much training does it take for someone to not threaten a school. He said the consequences to making threats can stick to students long after an arrest.
"We see what's happens around the country. What happened in Georgia," Waters said. "We don't want it happening in Jacksonville."