Shocking new mugshot shows Florida student, 10, arrested for threatening mass shooting five days after Texas massacre
A SHOCKING new mugshot has been released of the 10-year-old student who was arrested on Saturday over an alleged threat to commit a mass shooting.
The threat came only five days after the Uvalde, Texas school shooting on Tuesday resulted in the deaths of 19 students and two teachers.
The 10-year-old was charged with making a written threat to conduct a mass shooting.
Police believed that the student was threatening the school in text messages and publicly arrested him.
The 5th-grade student, from Patriot Elementary School in Cape Coral, Florida, reportedly sent a text to his friend claiming that he bought four assault rifles.
The alleged messages claimed that the minor scammed a friend to get the assault rifles.
Read more on Crime
“Get ready for water day,” the minor allegedly said in another message. He was referencing a school-sponsored event in which students participate in water activities.
The School Threat Enforcement Team was immediately notified, said police, and an investigation was opened.
Because of the age of the suspect, the Youth Services Criminal Investigations Division took over the case.
The boy was arrested on Saturday after being interviewed by detectives and was seen on police video being escorted by cops to a police car.
Most read in The Sun
“This student’s behavior is sickening, especially after the recent tragedy in Uvalde, Texas,” said Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno.
“Making sure our children are safe is paramount. We will have law and order in our schools! My team didn’t hesitate one second…NOT ONE SECOND, to investigate this threat.
“Right now is not the time to act like a delinquent. It’s not funny. This child made a fake threat, and now he’s experiencing real consequences.”
“‘He described wads of cash and was getting ready to commit a mass shooting,” Marceno added in a radio interview describing the texts.
“We don’t wait one second. We investigate every threat as if it’s real.”
The Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno, who claims to be the “law and order sheriff,” defended arresting the minor publicly.
While Marceno acknowledged that the boy is only 10 years old and his brain isn’t fully developed, he explained that making fake threats still have real consequences.
” A child pulling a trigger equals the same aftermath,” he said.
“When a 10-year-old presses a trigger, the aftermath is the same regardless of the age.
TEXAS SHOOTING
The arrest comes just days after 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School.
Marceno made a fierce statement against any would-be killers on social media in the wake of the tragedy.
“You don’t get to shoot our children,” he said in a press conference. “You bring deadly force in this county, we are going to kill you.”
Cops in Uvalde are facing scrutiny over their response to the shooting, with questions raised over how quickly law enforcement should have responded to the crime.
INCIDENT REVIEW
On Sunday the US Department of Justice announced that it will conduct a critical incident review of the law enforcement response to the shooting.
“The goal of the review is to provide an independent account of law enforcement actions and responses that day,” justice department spokesperson Anthony Coley said in a statement on Sunday.
Coley said the review will also aim “to identify lessons learned and best practices to help first responders prepare for and respond to active shooter events.”
According to the statement, the review will be carried out by the department’s community-oriented policing office.
The findings will be published once the review is complete.
This isn’t the first alleged threat made after the mass shooting in Texas that claimed the lives of 21 people.
Last week, four boys were arrested on suspicion of plotting a school shooting in Texas.
Read More On The Sun
Nathaniel Montelongo and Barbarito Pantoja, 17, have been charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
And, two other minors, who haven’t been named, were arrested and will appear before a judge today, The Monitor reported.
We pay for your stories!
Do you have a story for The US Sun team?
Email us at exclusive@the-sun.com or call 212 416 4552. Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheSunUS and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheSunUS