The 13-year-old son of a Florida “whistleblower” who claimed Governor Ron DeSantis’ office fabricated Covid-19 statistics during the pandemic was arrested after allegedly threatening a school shooting.
Rebekah Jones took to Twitter Tuesday night to announce the arrest, which she says was personally ordered by DeSantis and carried out by the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office.
Jones said her son was taken into custody over memes he sent in a private group chat poking fun at school shootings — including one that mocked lazy school security guards, and another that joked he was tempted to seize the guns of school guards.
But a police report released Thursday by the sheriff’s office indicated the motivation for the arrest went beyond the memes, suggesting that Jones downplayed the seriousness of the charges against her son.
Footage from the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office showed Rebekah Jones bringing in her 13-year-old son for his arrest after he was charged with threatening a school shooting
Police allege that Jones’ son made numerous statements explicitly expressing his desire to shoot and stab Holley Navarre Middle School students, even going so far as to set a date for his planned rampage.
The boy was accused of ‘writing’ [or] electronic threats” that he was planning a “mass shooting”. [or] terrorist act.’ He was released on Thursday after denying he wanted to commit a shooting and was placed under house arrest, according to police Miami announces.
The arrest comes three weeks after Jones filed a whistleblower lawsuit against Florida’s health department demanding she get her job back and receive back pay and other damages. She was fired from the ministry in 2020 for insubordination after she leaked data the state said was fake.
Rebekah Jones gained national attention in 2020 after she accused the Florida Department of Health of falsifying their Covid-19 statistics at the behest of Governor Ron DeSantis
One of the snapchats Jones’ son sent that led to his arrest for fear of shooting
Jones said someone who said they were a classmate’s cousin joined her son’s group chat and later reported the memes and images her son shared to police, according to the Pensacola News Journal.
The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to DailyMail.com that the images included a SnapChat of a man drinking a case of Hi-C with the caption “I feel so stupid I could shoot down a building full of people.”
It’s unclear who the man in the photo is, though he doesn’t appear to be Jones’ son.
Another showed an animated brain with a speech bubble illustrating an intrusive thought that read “Reach for officer’s rifle,” captioned “Me every time I see school security.”
A third meme showed an overweight man sleeping in a chair with the caption “Police in their car waiting for the school shooter to kill himself so they can get in.”
Jones wrote on Twitter that the memes were recorded and reported just a week after she filed her lawsuit against Florida.
“A week after we filed our lawsuit against the state, a child claiming to be the cousin of one of my son’s classmates joined their Snapchat group,” she wrote. “They recorded their conversations and anonymously reported my son to the police for sharing a popular internet meme.”
She said her son is autistic and the police would not let him take his meds when he was arrested.
According to the police report, warnings had been issued about Jones’ son before an investigation was launched into him, the Pensacola News Journal reported.
The son of a Snapchat sent Jones in which he was arrested over fears of shooting plans at a school
The son of a meme Jones sent a private group chat. Jones said this was one of the reasons her son was arrested because he feared he was planning a school shooting
That report alleged that Jones’ son had said things like “I want to shoot the school” and “If I get a gun I’ll shoot hmms lol.” HMNS supposedly stood for Holley Navarre Middle School.
Other messages would read, “I’m getting a wrath and a natural selection shirt, so maybe, but I don’t think many people know what the columbines look like.”
A comment in the report read, “Okay so it’s been about 3-4 weeks since I’ve been on my new antidepressants and they’re not working but they will be by now so I have no hope of getting better so why bother the losers at school.’
The boy reportedly said he planned to carry out his spring break shooting, but postponed it until March 31.
Jones framed the arrest as a retaliatory attempt to silence her after she filed her lawsuit against the state.
“It has been three weeks since we filed our lawsuit against the state. Last night they arrested my son for non-threatening Snapchat memes. The officer said it was the state’s call,” she wrote.
My family is not safe. My son was taken by government order and I had to send my husband and daughter out of the state for their safety. THIS is the reality of life in DeSantis’ Florida. There is no freedom here. Only retaliatory government by a fascist who wants to be king.”