TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Communities across the country are being hit by a wave of school shooting threats, prompting emergency notifications, urgent group chats and heightened fears among parents that their child’s school could become the next Parkland or Sandy Hook or Uvalde — or some other city hit by mass shootings.
On Florida’s Atlantic coast, Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood received several such reports while driving his grandchildren to school this week.
“It stuck with me because my cell phone was ringing and telling me about the other threats. I thought to myself, how many parents in this country have done exactly what I just did,” Chitwood said, “and they’ll never get their loved one back.”
Chitwood, fed up with the threat of school shootings in his community, vowed publicly identify students who make such threats.
On Monday, he posted the name and photo of an 11-year-old boy who had been arrested for allegedly threatening to commit a shooting at a high school in his county. The move quickly drew praise and criticism amid the ongoing national debate over what it would take to end gun violence plagues the nation.
A video Chitwood posted online shows airsoft guns, pistols, fake ammunition, knives and swords that investigators say the boy collected. The footage later cuts to an officer leading the handcuffed boy out of a police car before locking him in an empty cell. The boy’s face is seen frequently in the video, which has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on social media.
On Wednesday, Chitwood was at it again, posting a message online: “Two more students have been arrested following a school shooting threat,” adding of the teens: “We will introduce you to these two soon.”
The AP generally does not identify individuals under the age of 18 who are accused of a crime, nor does it send images that could reveal their identity.
Chitwood told The Associated Press this week that he doesn’t know if publicly shaming accused minors will be effective. But he had to take action to get through to students and their parents.
Since the school year started a few weeks ago in Volusia County, his office has reported more than 280 threats at schools, compared to 352 for all of last year, Chitwood said.
“Something has to be done,” Chitwood said. “Where are the parents?”
Under Florida law, juvenile court records are generally confidential and not available to the public unless the child is charged with a crime, as in this case.
Chitwood has a reputation for being a tough talker and he continues to maintain that he has the right to identify the boy.
“I’m not worried about the 2% that might get cuffed and someone might get offended,” Chitwood said. “I’m worried about the other 98% that are trying to go to school and live a normal life and not be afraid to get an education.”
Daniel Mears, a Florida State University criminology professor who studies school shootings, said the sheriff’s actions violate the spirit of the juvenile justice system.
“Juvenile records were supposed to be confidential for a reason. The idea was that kids would get a second chance at life,” Mears said.
Still, Mears said there have long been exceptions for particularly heinous crimes. He noted that threats in schools are treated differently.
“School shootings are just incredibly scary and disturbing for people,” he said.
Among those applauding the sheriff’s actions are: Max Schachterwhose son Alex was killed along with 16 others in a 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
“We had a culture of complacency that led to the Parkland school shooting. And we can no longer be complacent,” Schachter told the AP. “We should be prosecuting to the fullest extent of the law the individuals who make these threats and become mass shooters. And ultimately, we should be holding their parents accountable.”
Chitwood has said he is investigating whether parents of children who make threats could be held financially or criminally liable.
The first parents convicted of mass school shooting in US — Jennifer and James Crumbley — were sentenced to at least 10 years in prison in April after a Michigan judge complained about missed opportunities that could have prevented their teenage son Ethan from owning a gun and four students murdered in 2021The parents were convicted of involuntary manslaughter earlier this year.
In Winder, Georgia, prosecutors have filed charges costs against the father of a 14-year-old boy accused of murder two students and two teachers in a recent high school shooting.
Keri Rodrigues, president of the education advocacy group National Parents Union, said there is a need for gun control and adequate psychological support for children in crisisResearch shows that America’s youth are facing unprecedented mental health crisis.
“I think parents all over the country are struggling with what to do with their children,” Rodrigues said. “It’s so hard because we don’t have enough social workers. We don’t have enough school psychiatrists.”
Kathleen Miksits is the mother of two high school students in Volusia County. She believes students and parents need to understand the toll these threats are taking on their communities. Miksits kept her children home this week after students at their school were targeted with a threat.
Yet she struggles with the thought that this 11-year-old boy will never recover from this.
“Children say things they don’t mean. Or they don’t understand what they’re saying,” she said. “But on the other hand, this is an extremely serious issue and children continue to die.”
___ Kate Payne is a staff member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-reported issues.