POMPANO BEACH, Fla. – A 14-year-old student at Pompano Beach Middle School was arrested early Wednesday morning after threatening messages toward students at the school were posted to social media, authorities said.
According to Broward Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Miranda Grossman, deputies were notified around 9 p.m. Tuesday about the threat involving multiple students from the school that had been made through Snapchat.
According to the teen’s arrest report, the mother of a girl reported the threats after she saw her daughter listed in the thread with threats to kill her.
Police said the teen had posted several messages in the group chat regarding a number of people.
One post read: “I’m adding (redacted) to my shooting list,” and another read, “I’m bringing a gun to school.”
The teen was taken into custody around 3:45 a.m. Wednesday.
Police said they met with the teen and his father, and that the teen confessed to posting the messages, saying that it was all a joke.
The boy’s father told Local 10 News that his son is a good student who made a bad choice.
“He was joking about this with his friend and his associates,” said the father, who did not want to be identified. “He’ll be alright, it’s no big deal about it. He diid stupid things like joke with his friends.”
Grossman said the student was arrested and taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center. He faces one count of written threats to kill.
The teen is expected to appear before a judge on Thursday.
Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony spoke on the matter on Wednesday and had a very serious warning for any student who might consider making a similar threat.
“For my students, what I want them to understand is that these are felony charges,” said Tony. “It isn’t a misdemeanor, it isn’t a citation, it’s not even a warning. These are felony criminal charges that will stay with them for the rest of their life.”