ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — A 13-year-old was arrested Friday after seen making threats against an Orange County school on a video group chat, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
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On Thursday around 3:20 p.m., deputies responded to Champion Preparatory Academy on South Orange Blossom Trail for a school shooting threat made by a 13-year-old student who had been expelled from the school, according to a news release.
Several students had witnessed the student make a threat over a video group chat and reported it to school officials, the news release states.
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On the chat, the student said he was going to shoot up the school on Friday and brandished what appeared to be a handgun.
During an investigation that was immediately conducted, deputies found an airsoft pistol and two knives in the 13-year-old’s bedroom. He admitted to making the threats as a “joke.”
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The student was arrested and charged with written or electronic threats to kill, do bodily injury or conduct a mass shooting, a second-degree felony.
“The Orange County Sheriff’s Office takes all threats of this nature very seriously and we want to applaud the other students who came forward and reported what they saw,” the sheriff’s office said in the news release.
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