A 15-year-old Avon Park High School student has been arrested and charged with making a school shooting threat.
School officials were alerted by another student on Thursday after the suspect made statements during lunch that he was making plans to “shoot up the school.” Detectives with Highlands County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Unit interviewed the suspect, as well as two students who heard his statements.
No weapons were discovered at the suspect’s home when it was searched by detectives. At this time, there is no evidence that there were any concrete plans for a violent act at the school.
He was arrested today and charged with verbal threat to conduct a mass shooting, a second-degree felony. “This is another example of the system working like it should,” Sheriff Paul Blackman said. “A student heard something and immediately reported it. We are always going to take any indication of a threat against our schools seriously and will fully investigate every one of them and if we find the person responsible for the threat, we will take them to jail.”
