Authorities increasingly thwart mass shooting threats nationwide

(ABC News) —A 15-year-old student was arrested in Central Florida after authorities said he made an online threat to shoot up his school.

The unnamed teenage boy, who attends Seabreeze High School in Daytona Beach, allegedly posted a comment on a video game chat platform last week using a fake name, vowing to bring his father’s M15 assault rifle to school and kill seven people “at a minimum,” according to a statement from the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.

The school’s principal did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment Tuesday morning.

The comment was reported to the FBI, which contacted the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office. The teenager allegedly admitted to posting the comment but insisted it was just a joke.

In a statement released to ABC News the Sheriff said,

“Joke or not, these types of comments are felonies under the law,…After the mass violence we’ve seen in Florida and across the country, law enforcement officers have a responsibility to investigate and charge those who choose to make these types of threatening statements.”

Body-camera footage released by the sheriff’s office shows the moment deputies arrived at the teen’s home on Friday morning and handcuffed him. His mother can be heard telling deputies that she does own a gun and understands threats cannot be taken lightly.

“But,” she says, “he’s just a little kid playing a video game.”

A racially motivated threat made here in Columbia South Carolina that was posted on an online chat among more than a dozen students. Parents only learned of the alleged threat the authorities say the students posted online earlier this month at Cardinal Newman. According to the Richland County Sheriff’s office the juvenile was about to be expelled from the school when officials say his parents withdrew the student.

Parents outraged over the delay in notification demanded the school do more. After a meeting with the school’s Principal, a second student was expelled. The Richland County Sheriff’s office however said he was unable to charge the 13 other students he says were aware of the post, since South Carolina is just one of four states that does not have any hate crime laws on the books.

Monday the Sheriffs Department deemed the “case closed”, the Sheriff saying “my hands are tied”.