TAMPA, Fla. — A 14-year-old was arrested in Tampa after he allegedly made online threats to carry out a mass shooting at a Texas middle school, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.
The agency says on Sept. 14, investigators with the School Threat Assessment and Response (STAR) team, formed in late 2022, received a tip of an "ongoing written threat" to shoot up a school in San Antonio. The sheriff's office said investigators worked with the FBI to track down an Instagram account that posted messages saying, "Imma do a shooting at Driscoll middle school on October 21st" and "Yall got until Friday to find out who I am Or else everyone dies."
The school targeted in the teen's threats is Driscoll Middle School on Jones Matlsberger Road in San Antonio.
Within hours, STAR investigators said they were able to confirm where the threats originated — a home on 4 Seasons Boulevard in Tampa. When investigators arrived at the home, they found the 14-year-old.
He proceeded to tell authorities what he had done, the sheriff's office said. Deputies say the teen told them he created the fake Instagram account and used an old classmate's photo from Driscoll Middle School.
The sheriff's office says the teen used to be a student at Driscoll Middle School but had withdrawn from the Texas school in February 2023.
The teen was arrested and charged with one count of written or electronic threat to conduct a mass shooting or act of terrorism and one count of unlawful use of a two-way communications device.
"I commend the quick work of the STAR Team investigators, who worked diligently to identify and apprehend this wayward teen," Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a statement. "We do not take lightly any school threats that would harm students or faculty, whether in Hillsborough County or any other state. I urge parents to talk to their children and remind them that even empty threats can come with the full weight of the law."
