A 9th-grader has been arrested in connection with a social media threat of mass shootings at two Belleview schools.
Marion County sheriff’s deputies and detectives started investigating reports of the Monday night threats that named Belleview High School and Belleview Middle School as possible targets. Numerous parents contacted the sheriff’s office after their children reported seeing the post on Snapchat. As a result of the threat, 470 students were absent from Belleview High School and 604 were absent from Belleview Middle School on Tuesday.
Through the course of the investigation, detectives were able to determine that a 14-year-old Belleview High School student had created and distributed the threatening post. It was also learned that the boy had made the initial report to the sheriff’s office blaming an unknown person for the post.
After interviewing the student, he admitted to creating the post himself and was arrested. Marion County Public Schools and the sheriff’s office take every threat seriously and have taken a zero-tolerance stance for that type of behavior.
The student, whose name is being withheld because he is a juvenile, was charged with sending a written threat to kill, do bodily injury or conduct a mass shooting. He is being held on no bond.