Five students, one of whom is 11 years old, were arrested in Florida after making threats against multiple schools.
In a press conference Wednesday, Sheriff T.K. Waters said that three students between the ages of 11 and 13, one female and two males, have been arrested by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.
The threats were allegedly made in group chats and social media messages against charter schools River City Science Academy, IDEA River Bluff Charter School, and IDEA Bassett Charter School.
"Hello, fellow citizens... Don't worry, just don't come to school tomorrow... Unless you want 15 pounds of lead added to you at an extremely fast rate," an 11-year-old wrote in a group chat threat toward RCSA.
Waters revealed a 12-year-old threatened to shoot up a school in an Instagram message to IDEA River Bluff on Monday.
They also posted a story that read, "Don't come to school tomorrow if you want to live."
The superintendent of Duval County Public Schools, Christopher Bernier, also joined Waters in the press conference, confirming two students had been arrested by the Duval School Police.
One was a 16-year-old boy who was arrested after numerous students reported that he said he would bring a gun to Mandarin High School and "take 20 people," according to a police report.
The other was a 13-year-old who was arrested in connection to a bomb threat to the school on September 10.
"A threat can never be dismissed as a joke or a prank," Bernier said.
There have been nine school shooting threat-related arrests since August 1 in Jacksonville, reported the sheriff's office.
"We see what's happening around the country. What happened in Georgia, we don't want it happening in Jacksonville," declared Waters.
