3 Students Arrested In 2 School Threats: Manatee County Sheriff

MANATEE COUNTY, FL — Deputies have arrested multiple students at different schools for making written threats to kill, according to a Manatee County Sheriff’s Office news release.

An 11-year-old girl was arrested Wednesday morning at Buffalo Creek Middle School after school administration learned of a threat she made to another student Tuesday night on an instant messaging app.

“Be ready for tomorrow, I will kill u bruh,” the sixth-grader wrote in a message to the other student, the sheriff’s office said.

When the girl got to school Wednesday, deputies confronted her and searched her belongings. No firearms or other weapons were found.

She admitted to making the threat and was charged with making written/electronic threats to kill, a second-degree felony.

Two 14-year-old students at Lakewood Ranch Preparatory School are also in custody after being arrested for making written threats about a school shooting.

On Tuesday night, detectives began investigating a Snapchat message about an alleged fight in the school gym that included the words, “I’m shooting up the school at 9:00."

Deputies were at Lakewood Ranch Prep Wednesday morning to provide security and search for leads on where the message originated.

The investigation led to one of the 14-year-olds, who admitted to making the post. The second 14-year-old also told deputies that he wrote a post about killing classmates, the sheriff’s office said. Both are charged with making written/electronic threats to kill.

"Students must understand the seriousness of making threats about school violence. Make no mistake about it, if we have evidence that a student made a threat to kill, we arrest them and take them to the Juvenile Detention Center,” Sheriff Rick Wells said. “I encourage parents to remind their children of the consequences of making school threats.”

Though the agency named all students arrested, it’s Patch policy not to name minors accused of crimes unless they’ve been charged as an adult. It’s not known whether they’ve been charged as a juvenile or adult.