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

A fifth grade student in Florida was arrested over the weekend and charged with sending a textual content message threatening to carry out a mass taking pictures, authorities mentioned.

In a press release Saturday, the Lee County Sheriff’s Workplace stated it had realized earlier that day of a "threatening textual content message" despatched by a scholar at an elementary college.

It said its local college menace enforcement crew was instantly notified and started investigating. The ten-year-old boy was interviewed and charged later with "making a written risk to conduct a mass shooting," the sheriff's office said.

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

“This scholar’s conduct is sickening, particularly after the current tragedy in Uvalde, Texas,” Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno mentioned in a statement, noting that the menace got here simply days after the lethal faculty capturing at Robb Elementary Faculty left 19 college students and two lecturers lifeless.

“Right now will not be the time to behave like a little bit delinquent. It’s not funny,” he stated. “This child made a faux threat, and now he’s experiencing real penalties.”

Marceno said his workforce “didn’t hesitate one second...NOT ONE SECOND,” to research the incident.

The remark came as authorities in Uvalde face mounting criticism over their response to the May 24 college shooting after it got here to light that they waited roughly an hour for backup instead of instantly shifting in on the gunman.

Chantal Da Silva is a breaking news editor for NBC News Digital primarily based in London.