Four Students Charged After Making School Threats: Manatee Sheriff

Updated: Thursday, 9:29 p.m.

MANATEE COUNTY, FL — Three students at Parrish Community High School were arrested and charged Thursday after making school shooting threats, according to news releases from the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

That makes four students in two days now facing charges related to making threats to school campuses in Manatee County. A Buffalo Creek Middle School student was also charged Wednesday for posting a TikTok video simulating a mass shooting with a toy gun.

All arrests follow a week of ongoing false threats at Parrish Community High School. The school was evacuated Tuesday because of a bomb threat.

The students’ ages and genders weren’t shared by the sheriff’s office.

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• Student Threatened Shooting At Palmetto Middle School: MCSO
• Parrish High School Evacuated Tuesday After Bomb Threat: Report

One Parrish high school student was arrested Thursday morning at their home for posting a similar TikTok video, the sheriff’s office said. Deputies learned through a Manatee County Crime Stoppers tip that this latest video was filmed during the school's bomb threat evacuation.

The student admitted to making the video and was taken to juvenile detention and charged with the second-degree felony of making written or electronic threats to kill, do bodily injury, or conduct a mass shooting.

A second Parrish high school student was also charged after making and posting a threatening TikTok video depicting a mass shooting at the school, MCSO said.

The agency received two anonymous tips about this video, including one made to a school resource deputy on campus. This second video was also filmed during Tuesday’s bomb threat evacuation.

The student who posted the video was found in a classroom and arrested at the school, the sheriff’s office said. They admitted to making the video and is being charged with the second-degree felony of making written or electronic threats to kill, do bodily injury, or conduct a mass shooting.

A third Parrish high school student was arrested Thursday evening by detectives with MCSO’s Crimes Against Children Unit for making a false tip about a shooting at the school. The false tip was made using the Fortified Florida app on Monday.

After being taken into custody, the student told detectives that they made the false report “as a joke,” the sheriff’s office said.

This student was charged with the disruption of an educational institution, a second-degree misdemeanor.

Detectives continue to pursue leads on other school threat cases. Multiple investigations are ongoing.