Former student charged with threatening shooting at school

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FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. — A 14-year-old boy from Flagler County has been charged after deputies say he sent messages referencing a school shooting at Buddy Taylor Middle School (BTMS) through Instagram to fellow students.

The Flagler County Sheriff's Office says a parent of a fellow student found the messages, which were sent to their child, on their child’s cell phone and then contacted law enforcement.

Deputies say the messages included a photo of the suspect holding what appeared to be a black handgun. Further messages mentioned the suspect “shooting up” BTMS on Dec. 21.

The teen was charged with sending a written threat to conduct a mass shooting.

The suspect is a former student of BTMS who was removed from the Flagler County School System during the 2021-2022 school system due to disciplinary issues, deputies say. After being contacted by investigators, the suspect’s mother drove him to the Flagler County Jail Administration building where he was arrested and charged.

The investigation determined there was no active threat as the former student was in Volusia County and had no means of transportation to the school.

“Threats such as these are not a joke and will always be taken seriously and quickly investigated,” Sheriff Rick Staly said. “We don’t like making these arrests, but we will protect Flagler County students to the best of our ability any time a threat such as this one occurs. Thank you to the parent who found messages on their child’s phone and then reported it to us so we could take swift action to prevent an incident from occurring within Flagler County Schools and making a quick arrest.”

The teen was placed under arrest and transported to the Department of Juvenile Justice without incident.

Flagler County Sheriff Staly urges parents to talk to their students about the consequences of sending threats to commit violence. The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office will arrest any student who threatens violence against anyone.