Police arrested a Florida teenager on Wednesday when he allegedly threatened to carry out a mass shooting at school after getting into a fight.
The 14-year-old student at LiFT Academy School in Seminole allegedly told a classmate that he planned to shoot up the school shortly after he was forced to withdraw from classes due to an altercation, police said. School officials gave his parents the option to withdraw him or have him expelled on Tuesday over an altercation that occurred last week, police said. Shortly after being withdrawn, the teen allegedly sent text messages to a female classmate, saying, "I'm finna shoot that school up," the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.
He allegedly expressed plans to target at least two students and a school faculty member specifically, the statement said. Investigators said they became aware of the threats when a parent of the classmate notified the school, triggering a temporary lockdown.
Police located the suspect at his home on Wednesday. They said he admitted to sending the messages, but investigators confirmed that he did not have a weapon, according to the statement. "An adult family member allowed deputies to search the residence and it was determined that [the suspect] had no access to any firearms," the statement said. "He admitted to deputies he sent the threats because he was 'mad.'"
He was arrested on charges of written threats to kill or do bodily injury and was transported to the Pinellas County Juvenile Assessment Center without incident...
