CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. – An 18-year-old Broward County Public Schools student was on house arrest on Monday facing charges over an alleged school shooting threat.
Catrina Petit appeared before a Broward County Circuit judge on Sunday from the North Broward Bureau. Her attorney argued prosecutors had made a mistake when they filed 19 criminal charges.
Police officers arrested Petit on Friday after detectives accused her of using another’s student’s identity to sign on to a school computer in Coral Springs to commit the crime.
“I may do it during the day or after the school day or in between classes. All I know is everyone must DIE,” Petit wrote in the message, according to the Coral Springs Police Department.
Petit, a student at J.P. Taravella High School in Coral Springs who lives in Tamarac, warned that there was going to be a tragedy on Friday morning at a school, according to detectives.
The threatening message quickly went viral on social media. Since it wasn’t specific about the location, it caused false alarms at different schools in South Florida.
During the court hearing Sunday, her attorney argued that there should have only been eight charges. The judge allowed pre-trial release and house arrest.
Records on Friday showed Petit was facing three counts of written threats, a second-degree felony; false report, a second-degree felony; and 15 counts of knowingly disrupting or interfering with the lawful administration or functions of an educational institution, a second-degree misdemeanor.
Nadine Drew, a spokeswoman for BCPS, released a statement on Friday warning that making a school threat is a second-degree felony, and also carries school disciplinary consequences, such as expulsion.
Detectives were asking anyone with information about the case to call Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.
Morning report
Local 10 News Assignment Desk Editor Joyce Grace Ortega contributed to this report.