An 11-year-old "juvenile terrorist" is facing more than two dozen of felony charges for allegedly calling in bomb and shooting threats to several Florida schools, officials said.
The Flagler county Sheriff's Office last week announced the boy's arrest in Henrico County, Va., where he is from, and where he was awaiting extradition to Florida.
The arrest follows a 10-week investigation into more than 20 threats called in against five Flagler County schools between May 14 and May 22: Buddy Taylor Middle School, First Baptist Christian Academy, Flagler Palm Coast High School, Old Kings Elementary School, and Suncoast Community School.
Although the calls were placed to the FCSO Communications Center, the Volusia Sheriff's Office Communications Center, and the Lincoln Emergency Communications Center in Nebraska, detectives traced the calls to the boy's home in Virginia.
In coordination with the Henrico County Police Division, a search warrant was executed at the boy's residence. Electronic devices were seized, but detectives discovered that the boy had removed the hard drive from his laptop in an alleged effort to destroy evidence.
Nevertheless, through his electronics and interviews with his family, detectives learned the boy had been completely absorbed by the internet since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, and developed an interest in violent content, including videos of animal and human cruelty and "snuff" videos.
"What we learned was frankly shocking and alarming," Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said during a press conference. ""This kid needs to be held accountable and get some serious help."
Authorities say the boy said he created a script and acted alone, using skills he learned on the internet to try to avoid detection.
In addition to making threats against Florida schools, the boy also allegedly made similar calls to several other states and even the Maryland State House.
"With school coming up in less than a month, I know that the status of this investigation was on the forefront of our community's mind, which is why our detectives never stopped working to find the person responsible for terrorizing our students, parents, teachers, and our community," Staly said in a statement.
"This kid's behavior was escalating and becoming more dangerous. I'm glad we got him before he escalated out of control and hurt someone," Staly said. "I commend Detective O'Barr and our Criminal Intelligence Unit, our Real Time Crime Center team, dispatchers, and our patrol team, along with our federal and state partners for their incredible effort to solve this case."
The boy's calls allegedly inspired a copycat threat made by a 13-year-old in Flagler County, authorities said.
The boy is charged with 14 felony counts of false report concerning the planting of a bomb, 14 felony counts of unlawful use of a two-way communication device, one felony count of tampering with physical Evidence, and 14 misdemeanor counts of disrupting a school function.
--with reporting by TMX
