The Broward Sheriff’s Office arrested a 14-year-old girl from Lauderdale Lakes over the weekend after she allegedly made threats on social media against several Broward County schools.
According to the sheriff’s office, the adolescent threatened to kill or commit a mass shooting on several Instagram stories on Saturday afternoon. Specifically, the posts identified seven schools in Broward County that will be targeted with violence. The girl also allegedly posted posts threatening school shootings or other forms of violence. People who saw her Instagram story posts reported the threats.
“A social media threat posted this weekend against specific Broward County Public Schools has been neutralized,” Broward County Public Schools announced on social media. “After collaborating with the Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO) and other local law enforcement organizations, an arrest was made about the posts posted on Saturday, September 7, 2024. There is no safety issue for any of our campuses about this posting.”
Detectives from the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, Plantation Police Department, Broward County Public Schools Police, BSO’s Lauderdale Lakes District, and BSO’s TITAN (Threat Intervention Tactics Analytics Network) helped with the investigation, in addition to the Broward Sheriff’s Office Threat Management Unit, or TMU.
According to BSO, the suspected juvenile has been charged with making written threats to kill or perform a mass shooting, threatening to throw, project, place, or discharge any destructive object, and unauthorized use of two-way communication equipment.
The unsettling news comes after a 14-year-old student at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, committed a mass shooting last week. The perpetrator is accused of killing two students and two teachers and injuring nine others. “BSO reminds the community that these kinds of threats are taken seriously, examined fully, and could result in criminal charges,” according to a release. “Also, anyone who sees or hears these types of threats ought to report them to law enforcement or submit them to the SaferWatch app.”
