An Ocala high school senior was arrested Tuesday afternoon after a Missouri woman reported a threatening group text that included her juvenile daughter.
The woman, who lives in Eureka, Mo., called a Marion County sheriff’s deputy to report the text that allegedly was sent to her 15-year-old daughter by 19-year-old Matthew Lee Williams, a senior at Forest High School.
The text, which was sent on Saturday, April 6, said: “I’m done with everything I’m going on a killing spree (expletive deleted) everyone who ever existed I will kill as many people as I can before I die,” a sheriff’s office report states, adding that the daughter claimed Williams had made suicidal statements in the past.
After speaking with the woman, sheriff’s deputies went to Williams’ home at 5243 SE 44th Cir. They attempted to make contact with the teenager but received no answer at the door. Later, his mother returned home and after being told what had happened, she told deputies her son was inside the home and let them in to speak with him.
Williams, who was in a back bedroom of the house, told deputies the text was a “joke.” And he mentioned that he was on medication for depression and suggested it may need to be adjusted, the report says.
The deputy stated that he didn’t believe Williams was being truthful with him. And he said the teenager denied having access to any weapons in his home.
Williams was taken into custody and transported to the Marion County Jail, where he was charged with intimidation/writing or sending a threat to kill or injure. He was released early Tuesday morning on $5,000 bond and doesn’t yet have a court date.
Forest High School has been the news several times in the past year. On April 20, a student was injured during a school shooting at the facility. Three minutes after the shot was fired, school resource officer Dep. Jim Long took 19-year-old Sky Bouche, a former student at the school, into custody. In May, longtime agriculture teacher Dewie Brewton abruptly “retired” after national outrage erupted over the drownings of nuisance animals during his class. In March, sheriff’s deputies were called in to investigate a threatening statement reportedly made at the school. And in September, a student was cut by a knife during a scuffle at the Ocala Greenway Disc Golf Course.