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

A fifth grade pupil in Florida was arrested over the weekend and charged with sending a textual content message threatening to hold out a mass shooting, authorities said.

In an announcement Saturday, the Lee County Sheriff’s Workplace stated it had learned earlier that day of a "threatening textual content message" sent by a pupil at an elementary school.

It mentioned its local faculty menace enforcement workforce was immediately notified and started investigating. The 10-year-old boy was interviewed and charged later with "making a written menace to conduct a mass shooting," the sheriff's workplace stated.

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

“This scholar’s habits is sickening, especially after the current tragedy in Uvalde, Texas,” Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno stated in a statement, noting that the menace came simply days after the deadly college shooting at Robb Elementary College left 19 college students and two lecturers lifeless.

“Proper now just isn't the time to act like a bit delinquent. It’s not funny,” he said. “This child made a faux threat, and now he’s experiencing actual penalties.”

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

The remark got here as authorities in Uvalde face mounting criticism over their response to the May 24 faculty shooting after it came to mild that they waited roughly an hour for backup as a substitute of immediately moving in on the gunman.

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