'It's not funny': Schoolboy arrested in class over 'sickening' texts

Tara Meakins
·News Reporter
·2-min read

Police have arrested a 10-year-old boy for threatening to carry out a mass shooting via text message.

The 5th grader from Patriot Elementary School in Cape Coral, in the US state of Florida, was pictured in handcuffs and being walked to a police car on Saturday evening.

He was interviewed and charged with making a written threat to conduct a mass shooting.

It comes just days after 19 children and two of their teachers were killed in a mass shooting in Texas.

“This student’s behaviour is sickening, especially after the recent tragedy in Uvalde, Texas,” Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said in a statement.

“Right now is not the time to act like a little delinquent. It’s not funny. This child made a fake threat, and now he’s experiencing real consequences.”

The sheriff’s office’s School Threat Enforcement Team was tipped off about the message and quick to act.

“Making sure our children are safe is paramount,” Sheriff Macreno said.

“We will have law and order in our schools!"

"My team didn’t hesitate one second, not one second, to investigate this threat.”

A police officer walks with a 10-year-old boy in handcuffs
A 10-year-old boy has been arrested in Florida for threatening to carry out a mass shooting. Source: Lee County Sheriff's Office

Police admit waiting to enter school was “wrong”

While police in Texas were on the scene within minutes of the shooting at Robb Elementary School, officers have come under fire for waiting almost 80 minutes to enter the classroom and kill gunman Salvador Ramos.

The Texas Department of Public Safety has since admitted that law enforcement’s response fell disastrously short.

A man sits at a memorial for the victims of the Texas shooting
Nineteen children and two teachers were killed in the mass shooting in Texas. Source: AAP

“From the benefit of hindsight where I’m sitting now, of course it was not the right decision,” Director Steve McCraw said on the delay.

“It was the wrong decision.”

“There’s no excuse for that.”

The gunman fired more than 100 shots in several classrooms before he was shot dead by federal agents.

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