Florida sheriff is praised for shaming parents of teens threatening to shoot up schools: ‘If you don’t raise your kids, I will… in jail’
A Florida sheriff is being praised after urging parents to “do their jobs” amid threats of shootings at schools across the state.
Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood made the statements after his department arrested an 11-year-old boy who made a threat against a local school in his jurisdiction.
Sheriff Chitwood yesterday released a photo and video of the “perp walk” of 11-year-old Carlo “Kingston” Dorelli, who is accused of making a shooting threat at Port Orange Middle School.
Chitwood posted a video of the perpetrator being released in an attempt to publicly shame the suspect and embarrass the parents into “raising their children” or he would be… released from prison.
Now, people have taken to X to praise Chitwood for his no-nonsense policies aimed at ending violence and threats in schools. One user wrote: ‘Yes indeed! This needed to happen. It’s called ACCOUNTABILITY for you dumb f*** ups.’
In a video posted on X, Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood warned parents that their photos with their children will be posted on social media after false threats of school shootings.
Another user said: ‘That’s so great! Parents today suck. You have to be like parents from the 70s and 80s, Gen X parents. I think they were baby boomers. These people raising their kids now are a bunch of weirdos, holy moly.’
According to the sheriff’s office, a search of Dorelli’s room turned up airsoft guns, handguns, fake ammunition, knives, swords and other weapons, which the student showed others in a FaceTime video that was made to look as realistic as possible.
After his arrest yesterday, Chitwood revealed that his department has spent nearly $21,000 investigating a series of fake school shootings since Sept. 13.
This includes 54 tips received about school shooting threats in less than 24 hours, all of which were found to be “false.”
“I can’t say it any clearer than that,” Chitwood said on X. “You don’t stand on a plane and yell hijack, you don’t walk into a movie theater and yell fire, and you don’t go online and post that you’re going to shoot up a school. You’re going to go to jail.”
An 11-year-old high school student, Carlo “Kingston” Dorelli, was arrested and charged as a juvenile after threatening to shoot up a high school
He added that there have been a total of 207 threats since the start of the school year, which is “unacceptable” and “no joke.”
“This has gotten completely out of hand and it’s over now,” he added in the message.
“Parents, do your job, don’t let Sheriff Chitwood raise your children. Go talk to the families that have lost a loved one in a school shooting. These little idiots think it’s funny, go talk to those parents and see how funny this is.”
“That’s not it. We’re coming to get you and we’re going to publicly shame you.”
Dorelli claimed that the “death list” authorities found after searching his room was “just a joke” and that he had no intention of harming any of the people on the list.
During a search of the suspect’s room, authorities found replica assault rifles, samurai swords, throwing stars and knives that the 11-year-old boy showed to other classmates in a video call
According to a press release, police were alerted to Dorelli’s alleged threats through a tip to Fortify Florida.
Dorelli claimed “it was all a joke” after authorities discovered a “kill list” containing a written list of names and targets, The Daily Mail reported.
The other students who saw the weapons via video chat said they were unsure whether the weapons were real.
Dorelli denied ever actually harming anyone at school, and jokingly made a list of names, according to CNN.
Sheriff Chitwood kept his promise and shared the photo and videos of the 11-year-old child who was arrested for threatening to shoot up Port Orange Middle School in Florida
His arrest followed two other arrests — a 13-year-old student and a 14-year-old student from Heritage Middle School who were arrested for making written death threats after allegedly posting messages about committing a school shooting on social platforms including TikTok and Instagram, according to Fox News.
Recently, a wave of school shooting hoaxes has emerged in Florida, following the deadly attack at Apalachee High School in Georgia, in which a 14-year-old student opened fire, killing four people: two students and two teachers.
The suspect was attacked and immediately surrendered, after which he was arrested and tried as an adult for murder.
The influx of school shooting threats isn’t limited to one state. Two teenagers were arrested in Foley, Alabama, on Friday after making “terrorist threats” on social media, CNN added.
This happened just days after another school in the same city was locked down after a teacher overheard a student talking to him about having a gun.
On the same day, a 12-year-old and a 15-year-old were arrested in Indianapolis in two separate cases of violent threats against their school, CNN reported.
Sheriff Chitwood is warning parents to keep their kids in line and “raise their kids” after Fortify Florida received 54 tips in less than 24 hours about school shooting threats, costing the agency $21,000 to investigate.
Texas, too, has been plagued by dozens of threats in the first month after the start of the school year. Many of the perpetrators are pre-teens.
Several arrests have already been made in San Antonio, including two 12-year-old students who were arrested in one week for posting threatening images on social media, according to My San Antonio.
On Sept. 8, one of the 12-year-olds threatened to shoot at multiple schools in different San Antonio districts, posted a photo of a gun, and tagged multiple San Antonio-area campuses with dates, My San Antonio reported.
Now that the school year has just started, parents are concerned about sending their children to school amid growing threats and fears.
According to figures from Columbine University, more than 383,000 students have experienced gun violence at school since the fall of Columbine. The Washington Post.
Since the deadly 1999 attack that left 13 people dead — 12 students and a teacher — at Columbine High School in Colorado, there have been 417 school shootings in the United States, the Washington Post reports.
“We arrested seven and one tried to bring a gun to a football game,” Chitwood added.
“You think this is a joke? You’re going to get your ass in cuffs and you’re going to have your ass paraded around in front of the news media behind me and your parents are going to be filmed when they come to pick you up.”
“So parents, make sure your kids are in line, or your checkbook is going to hurt and your pride is going to get hurt. I promise.”