Florida fifth grader arrested, charged with threatening a mass taking pictures, police say

A fifth grade scholar in Florida was arrested over the weekend and charged with sending a text message threatening to carry out a mass shooting, authorities stated.

In an announcement Saturday, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office said it had realized earlier that day of a "threatening text message" despatched by a student at an elementary school.

It mentioned its local faculty threat enforcement team was immediately notified and began investigating. The ten-year-old boy was interviewed and charged later with "making a written menace to conduct a mass taking pictures," the sheriff's workplace stated.

In video shared by authorities, the boy may be seen being led into a police car.

“This pupil’s conduct is sickening, particularly after the current tragedy in Uvalde, Texas,” Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno mentioned in a press release, noting that the threat got here just days after the deadly school capturing at Robb Elementary Faculty left 19 students and two teachers useless.

“Right now is just not the time to behave like just a little delinquent. It’s not humorous,” he said. “This youngster made a fake threat, and now he’s experiencing real penalties.”

Marceno stated his team “didn’t hesitate one second...NOT ONE SECOND,” to investigate the incident.

The comment got here as authorities in Uvalde face mounting criticism over their response to the Might 24 school capturing after it got here to light that they waited roughly an hour for backup as an alternative of instantly transferring in on the gunman.

Chantal Da Silva is a breaking information editor for NBC Information Digital primarily based in London.