BAYONET POINT, Fla. — Pasco County Sheriff's Office deputies arrested a Bayonet Point Middle School student Thursday night for written threats to kill, the agency said in an X post.
The sheriff's office said deputies investigated two threats in connection to the middle school and determined that both of them came from the student. There is reportedly no threat to Bayonet Point Middle School or any other Pasco County schools at this time.
"Once again, we urge parents and guardians to speak with their children about the consequences of making threats. Even threats made as a joke can have legal ramifications," deputies stated in the post.
This arrest comes as online threats against schools continue to rise in the Tampa Bay area. The uptick prompted a response from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during a roundtable discussion on Thursday in Pinellas Park.
RELATED: 'It is not a joke': Gov. DeSantis responds to growing number of threats toward Florida schools
"It is not a joke to threaten violence at a school," DeSantis said. "Some people think that that's funny, some people think that they can get attention from that... In Florida, if you're doing that, you're going to be held accountable."
Some of the most recent instances of this rise saw an 11-year-old and two 14-year-olds arrested for threats against schools in Manatee County.
In addition, a shooting threat last week at Newsome High School in Hillsborough County put the building on lockdown for several hours. That incident led to Hillsborough deputies offering a $1,000 reward for any information on the person responsible for making the threat.
