From Reuters/Yahoo:
“Florida sheriff fed up with
school shooting hoaxes posts boy's mugshot to social media”
A Florida sheriff fed up with a
spate of false school shooting threats is taking a new tactic to try get
through to students and their parents: he's posting the mugshot of any offender
on social media. Law enforcement officials in Florida and across the country
have seen a wave of school shooting hoaxes recently, including in the wake of
the deadly attack at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, that killed two
students and two teachers.
Volusia County Sheriff Mike
Chitwood on Florida's Atlantic Coast said he's tired of the hoaxes targeting
students, disrupting schools and sapping law enforcement resources. In social
media posts Monday, Chitwood warned parents that if their kids are arrested for
making these threats, he'll make sure the public knows. “Since parents, you
don’t want to raise your kids, I’m going to start raising them," Chitwood
said. "Every time we make an arrest, your kid’s photo is going to be put
out there. And if I can do it, I’m going to perp walk your kid so that everybody
can see what your kid’s up to.”
Chitwood made the announcement in
a video highlighting the arrest of an 11-year-boy who was taken into custody
for allegedly threatening to carry out a school shooting at Creekside or Silver
Sands Middle School in Volusia County. Chitwood posted the boy's full name and
mugshot to his Facebook page. In the video, which had more than 270,000 views
on Facebook as of Monday afternoon, the camera pans across a conference table
covered in airsoft guns, pistols, fake ammunition, knives and swords that law
enforcement officers claim the boy was “showing off" to other students. Later,
the video cuts to officers letting the boy out of a squad car and leading him
handcuffed into a secure facility, dressed in a blue flannel button-down shirt,
black sweatpants and slip-on sandals. The boy's face is fully visible at
multiples points in the video. “Right this way, young man,” an officer tells
the boy, his hands shackled behind his back. The boy is led into an empty cell,
with metal cuffs around his wrists and ankles, before an officer closes the
door and locks him inside. “Do you have any questions?” the officer asks as he
bolts the door. “No sir,” the boy replies.
The video prompted a stream of
reactions on social media, with many residents praising Chitwood, calling on
him to publicly identify the parents as well — or press charges against them. Others
questioned the sheriff’s decision, saying the 11-year-old is just a child, and
that the weight of the responsibility should fall on his parents. Under Florida
law, juvenile court records are generally exempt from public release — but not
if the child is charged with a felony, as in this case. Law enforcement
officials across Florida have been tracking a stream of threats in the weeks
since the 2024-2025 school year began. In Broward County, home to Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High School, officials said last week they had already
arrested nine students, ages 11 to 15, for making threats since August. "For
my parents, to the kids who are getting ready for school, I'm going to say this
again," Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony said at a press conference, “nothing
about this is a laughing or joking matter.” “Parents, students, it's not a
game,” he added.
^ Every Person (whether a Minor
or an Adult) who calls a Bomb Scare, a Mass Shooting, a School Shooting, a Hate
Crime or a Similar Crime that is a legitimate hoax should be publicly shamed as
well as being criminally prosecuted – across the US.
Parents of these Minors should
also be held legally responsible for these hoaxes (as some States are now doing
with School Shootings.)
It should follow them throughout
their lives in both their Personal and Professional Lives.
I remember having to deal with
dozens of Bomb Scares at my School, on my School Bus and on Base when I lived
in Germany.
They were called in by Germans
and Foreigners who hated Americans as well as Americans who wanted a day off of
school, etc. ^
https://www.yahoo.com/news/florida-sheriff-fed-school-shooting-222117665.html
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