A 13-year-old was arrested Friday after allegedly writing online a threat to carry out a shooting at a charter school in Plantation, police said.
The school safety officer at Renaissance Charter School at Plantation was notified by parents on Friday about the threat posted on social media, Plantation Police said. The police department did not provide further details about the nature of the threat or their investigation Friday night.
The teen was arrested on charges of written or electronic threats to kill, a felony charge, and disruption of school function and taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center in Fort Lauderdale. The police department did not provide the teen’s gender or say whether he or she is a student at the school.
Earlier this year, a 15-year-old student at South Broward High School in Hollywood was arrested after he allegedly wrote a threat to “shoot up” Charles W. Flanagan High School in Pembroke Pines in a Snapchat message, Pembroke Pines Police said in January. A Coral Springs Charter School student was arrested one week earlier after allegedly making a similar threat.
Online threats against schools have been an ongoing issue in South Florida, and across the country, for years. Law enforcement and schools districts are continually reminding parents to warn their children of the real consequences of making the threats, including facing a felony charge and school discipline.
At least nine Broward students ages 11 to 15 were been arrested for making threats against schools within a month of the 2024-25 school year beginning.
Each case is handled on an individual basis and a panel of senior prosecutors reviews evidence in each case to decide whether to file charges or refer them to programs for help, Broward State Attorney Harold Pryor said in a statement last August at the time of the uptick in arrests. Prosecutors review each student’s behavioral history and needs, the statement said.
In a prepared video statement, Judge Elijah Williams, assigned to the Juvenile Delinquency Division, warned students that if they are charged and found guilty, they will be facing a maximum of up to three years in “a lockdown facility.”
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