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 text message threatening to carry out a mass capturing, authorities said.

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

It mentioned its native school menace enforcement team was instantly 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 might be seen being led into a police car.

“This pupil’s behavior 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 faculty shooting at Robb Elementary Faculty left 19 students and two lecturers useless.

“Right now will not be the time to behave like slightly delinquent. It’s not humorous,” he mentioned. “This child made a pretend menace, and now he’s experiencing real consequences.”

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

The comment got here as authorities in Uvalde face mounting criticism over their response to the May 24 school shooting after it came to gentle that they waited roughly an hour for backup as an alternative of immediately moving in on the gunman.

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