LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — A 13-year-old Umatilla Middle School student has been charged with a felony after threatening to carry out a shooting at the school on social media.
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The sheriff’s office identified the student as Thea Stiles.
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Umatilla Middle School administrators first informed the school resource deputy on duty Wednesday morning of a snapchat post that was circulating, warning of shooting that was to take place at the school.
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The poster says they’ll be “shooting up” the middle school Wednesday and references being expelled for “selling nic” because of students in the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade classes.
Deputies say they believe it’s a reference to Stiles getting in trouble earlier in the day for selling nicotine vapes.
When questioned in the principal’s office about the post, deputies say Stiles initially denied even having a phone.
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After the principal found Stiles’ phone, deputies say she denied making the Snapchat post before she was ever questioned about it. After Stiles provided her pass code, the principal was able to find the post saved on the phone.
Stiles wrote a statement admitting that she made and sent the post out while she was on the bus Wednesday morning because she was upset.
Stiles was arrested on one felony count of written threats to do violence.
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Deputies say Stiles never actually had access to a weapon.
“The Sheriff’s Office and Lake County Schools maintain zero tolerance for such threats,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
Just days before the arrest, the school district and sheriff’s office shared a facebook message from Superintendent Diane Kornegay and Sheriff Peyton Grinnell warning of the serious consequences of making threats of violence.
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