Two juveniles ages 10 and 11 have been arrested in connection to threats placed against others in different schools in Volusia County on Tuesday. The Daytona Beach Police Department announced the arrests in a public statement the same day.
Both kids are accused of making threats to shoot others at the schools before being apprehended. The incidents occurred less than a week after a shooting that killed four and injured nine at Apalachee High School in Barrow County, Georgia.
The first of the two threats occurred against students at Halifax Academy at 275 Williamson Blvd in Daytona. The suspect, an 11-year-old boy, was reportedly frustrated with having been turned down by a female student. According to the DBPD, other kids made fun of him for the rejection, angering him to the point that he sent a picture of a gun and threatened to shoot at least one other student.
Police were notified of the threat at 1:44 am, and initially thought the threat originated with a student at Hinson Middle School nearby, but eventually identified a Halifax student as their suspect. The juvenile was arrested and charged with written threats to kill.
The second threat occurred at Westside Elementary School, at 1200 Jimmy Ann Drive. The suspect, a 10-year-old boy, is said to have told a substitute teacher and two other students that he'd shoot them.
The already-tense situation became more alarming when students reportedly saw the same student with a BB-gun tucked into his waistband. The students alerted a teacher, and the suspect was then seen running to a fence at the outside of the school and throwing something over. Both the school resource officer and additional units responded, recovering a BB-gun magazine and BB pellets on his person. He was placed under arrest as well, on charges not specified by the DBPD.
