Over 700 students arrested for threats since Apalachee High School shooting

In the past, threats of violence at schools have become increasingly common following high-profile shootings. For example, in the two weeks following the Marjory Stoneman High School shooting in 2018, the Educator's School Safety Network found that at least 638 threats were made against schools. However, the number of school violence threats and subsequent arrests in less than a month since the Apalachee High School shooting is unprecedented.

Since Sept. 4, the day two students and two teachers were killed at Apalachee High School, more than 700 children and teenagers have been arrested for allegedly making violent threats against schools in at least 45 schools, according to a New York Times news analysis States had issued reports, law enforcement statements and court filings.

The analysis also found that 10% of the suspected threats came from children aged 12 or younger. In Middletown, Ohio, a 10-year-old boy was arrested for sending a Snapchat message from his mother's phone telling his friends that there would be shootings at several local schools. The boy was detained for ten days and charged with scaremongering.

Volusia Sheriff Perpetrator Accompanies Other Students Accused of Making Threats

To curb the increase in threats, some law enforcement agencies are releasing the names and pictures of children and teenagers accused of making the threats. A few weeks ago in Florida, Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood began the controversial practice of releasing videos of handcuffed students being led into detention areas.

“Parents, if you don’t want to raise your children, I will start raising them,” Chitwood said in a Sept. 13 news conference. “Every time we make an arrest, your child's photo is released, and if I could, I will accompany your child so everyone can see what your child is up to.”

The youngest students “transferred” to Volusia are 11 and 13 years old, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reports. The 11-year-old boy was arrested on September 25 and accused of making written threats of a mass shooting. The boy is said to have sent threatening texts to his classmates “with the sole aim of making them fear for their safety.”

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“This boy thought it would be a great joke to scare his classmates,” Chitwood wrote on social media. “They fed on their fears…threatened the other children in a group chat and told them they were on a hit list. This behavior is unacceptable and the consequences will be no laughing matter.”

The 13-year-old boy was arrested on September 27 after the sheriff's office received a tip about an online threat allegedly coming from his PlayStation. The boy was accused of making written death threats.

“While the rest of us were preparing for the hurricane, this boy was making school threats on his PlayStation,” Chitwood wrote. “These threats are nothing to laugh about. Each individual is taken seriously and the consequences are serious.”

2 dozen Polk County students arrested

Volusia isn't the only Florida county cracking down on threats. During a press conference on September 19, Polk County School District Superintendent Fred Heid said the Polk County Sheriff's Office had arrested 24 of its students in the first 28 days of the school year, according to Fox News. In comparison, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said 42 students were arrested for threats during the entire 2023-2024 school year.

“Students are being arrested. You are charged with a second degree felony,” Heid said. “And from the school district’s perspective, we will fully pursue the consequences for any student or non-student member of our community who calls them or posts something online, on social media or via email.”

Heid also said the district will seek compensation for the time and resources spent investigating the threats.

7 Houston ISD students arrested for threats of violence at school

At least seven students have been arrested in the Houston Independent School District since the Apalachee shooting, according to Houston Public Media. The district said many of the students have been charged with felonies. Most recently, Bellaire High School was placed on lockdown after a student allegedly made a bomb threat. Several unidentified weapons were also seized at Bellaire High School in August.

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“Parents and caregivers, please talk to your children about the severity of this dangerous behavior,” Houston ISD said in a statement. “The safety and well-being of our students and staff is our top priority. Together we will ensure the safety of our community.”

In a news conference on Sept. 23, the FBI's Houston Field Division said it received at least 30 school threats in August, the most in a month in the last three years. Christopher Soyez, assistant special agent in charge of FBI Houston, said they investigate every threat they receive. He encourages students to take screenshots of any threats they encounter on social media and show them to police or administration.

Northern California student arrested for threats of violence at school

As of September 17, less than two weeks after the Apalachee shooting, at least eight students had been arrested in various Northern California cities, including Sacramento, Stanislaus County, Modesto, Manteca, Lodi and Galt, according to Fox 40.

In Sacramento, police arrested a 14-year-old girl for allegedly making criminal threats against McClatchy High School. In Stockton, police arrested a 15-year-old Lodi Unified School District boy for allegedly filming a threatening video against a local elementary school.

In Galt, a 15-year-old boy was arrested for allegedly making online threats against several area high schools. He was booked into the Sacramento County Juvenile Detention Center on a felony charge.

Why are students more likely to threaten school shootings?

While the threat of violence in schools typically increases after school shootings, what's different this time?

“I think it's really hard to know… One of the reasons children and adolescents are more prone to this behavior is because there's a lot of accessibility and relatively easy anonymity,” said Karin Price, chief of psychology at Texas Children's Hospital Houston Public Media. “But I know – I think we all know – that kids today feel less safe than maybe they did 10 years ago, and I think that could be a factor [in the threats].”

Price also said that young people who feel powerless or voiceless may use these threats to “reclaim their sense of power,” noting that these threats, particularly those that are anonymous, could be seen as a way to causing harm to a school system while remaining protected from retaliation.

“I think, unfortunately, many of our students believe that social media is an appropriate place to get attention,” Superintendent Heid said during his Sept. 19 press conference. “As the sheriff put it, we investigate and conduct more threat assessments than many others because we don’t lower expectations.”

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Judd echoed Heid's comment, noting that some children make threats as part of social media challenges.

“We end up with these TikTok challenges; Well, we will send you to jail with TikTok if you follow these challenges. This is the bottom line,” he said. “The overwhelming majority of kids say, 'That's crazy and I'm not going to do that.' But a few of the kids say, 'I'm crazy and I'm going to do it,' and then we're going to arrest them.”

Although threats of violence have increased, Aaron Kupchik, a professor of sociology and criminal justice at the University of Delaware, told Houston Public Media that he is skeptical of reports that crime is increasing. Kupchik pointed to the School Crime and Safety Indicators report and noted that neither fatal nor nonfatal victimizations appear to be increasing among students ages 12 to 18.

“Schools across the country are so much safer today than they were a generation or two ago, and you don't know that, do you?” he said. “It's not that schools become these battlefields where students are killed so frequently…a lot of times it's just a perception.”

Regardless, most law enforcement agencies will investigate any threat they receive, whether they believe it to be credible or not. False threats waste valuable resources and are extremely costly. Connor Hagan, a spokesman for the FBI's Houston division, said whether a threat is a joke or not, it has significant consequences.

“If an investigation concludes that a false or false threat was made against a school or other public place, a federal charge could be considered, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison,” he said. “If federal charges are not warranted, state charges may be considered.”