Heritage Middle School Student Charged With Making Shooting Threat

Deltona, FL – Yet another local student is facing charges after threatening to shoot up their school. This time, the Volusia Sheriff’s Office (VSO) says deputies are charging a 12-year-old Heritage Middle School student.  The student told deputies and the principal that he got angry during gym class when other students made him get off an exercise machine he was using. He walked over to his friend and told him: “This is why I want to shoot up the school.” When asked why he made the statement, the student claimed it was just a joke; something deputies in Volusia and Flagler have been hearing from arrested students all month. However, the friend of the student said in an interview that he said:  “I’m gonna shoot up the school. I am not kidding, and you are gonna be the first.” After the threat was made, the friend said they reported the incident to a teacher. The student is now facing a charge of making a threat to discharge a destructive device, a felony. This is the second student to be arrested in Volusia County for making a shooting threat while at school. The first student was a Galaxy Middle School student arrested for making several threats on the social media platform Snapchat. The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office has also arrested three students for making threats at school, all occurring within a month. Two of those students were from Buddy Taylor Middle School, while the third was a Rymfire Elementary student. Another Flagler student is also facing charges for battering a school resource deputy and bringing drugs onto the campus of Matanzas High School.