Florida sheriff fed up with prank school threats; vows to 'perp walk' both parents and students
'Do your job': Volusia Sheriff fed up with hoax school threats
Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood has strong words for parents and students after his department has seen an increase in bogus school shooting threats. "Parents, do your job," Sheriff Chitwood said. He said his school has spent thousands of dollars investigating potential social media threats targeting schools, some that turned out to be jokes. Some students have been arrested and charged. Sheriff Chitwood threatened if he finds out a parent knew about their student's alleged threats and did nothing about it, he'll arrest them and perp walk them alongside their child.
Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said his agency has spent nearly $21,000 in recent days investigating bogus school threats posted on social media.
And he's fed up.
"This is absolutely out of control, and it ends now," he said during a press conference on Friday, alongside officials with Volusia County Public Schools.
In less than 24 hours, some 54 threats were reported to Fortify Florida, an app where people can submit suspicious activity to law enforcement agencies.
"That means investigators in the school district have been running around the clock to investigate these tips, which are all turning out to be false. So far, it's cost $21,000 to do these investigations," he said.
Two students – a 13-year-old and 14-year-old – at Heritage Middle School were arrested after allegedly posting threats on TikTok and Instagram about committing a school shooting.
Sheriff Chitwood said his agency is looking at a possible third suspect.
2 middle schoolers arrested over alleged shooting threats
Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood is fed up with students allegedly making school shooting threats on social media. "Absolutely ridiculous," he said. And he called out parents, too. "If I can in anyway, find out a parent knew what was going on and wasn't doing anything, your (expletive) is getting perp walked with them."
"Parents, you don't want to raise your kids, I'm going to start raising them. Every time we make an arrest, your kid's photo is going to be put out there. And if I could do it, I'm going to perp walk your kid so that everybody can see what your kid's up to," said Sheriff Chitwood.
"The second point of this is, if I can in anyway find out that a parent knew what was going on and wasn't doing anything, your (expletive) is getting perp-walked with them," he said.
Several schools in Florida have reported an increase in school threats – and several students have been arrested and charged with making those threats, according to the various agencies around the state.
It comes less than two weeks after a 14-year-old suspect shot and killed four people at Apalachee High School outside of Atlanta, Georgia, and injured four others.
"This is absolutely ridiculous. Go talk to the families who have lost a loved one in a school shooting. These little knuckleheads think it's funny. Go talk to those parents and see how funny this is. It's not," Chitwood said.