Teen Accused Of Posting Threat To School On Social Media
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - A 14-year-old Freshman at Don Soffer High School student appeared in court Friday accused of making a school threat.
The FBI was notified he posted a threat on Snap Chat while in Broward visiting a parent.
"The defendant sent a picture of himself holding what appeared to be a firearm saying, "Y'all watch out at school tomorrow," said the prosecutor.
"I think that's clearly was designed to imply this firearm was going to be used at school the next day." He said.
In court, the teen's attorney argued the post was deleted and quickly followed up with a message saying, "just kidding" showing that it was not a real gun.
"It wasn't a gun, it wasn't a firearm, it wasn't capable of expelling a projectile with explosive action," explained defense attorney Bruce Raticoff. "It was a BB gun," he said.
The teen's family was hoping to convince the judge to let him come home — right now he's being held for three weeks.
His mom made a passionate plea.
"He's a good boy with a big heart and he would never hurt anybody," she said. "He made a huge mistake, a very very stupid mistake that he regrets very deeply."
The judge is holding him for now as she waits for more information along with a psychological evaluation and a threat assessment.
This comes as we've seen a rash of threats since school began.
The latest at Nova High School where a student posted "I want to shoot up a school. This is a genuine feeling, I want people to suffer."
Last week a former student from MacArthur high school in Hollywood is accused of posting a picture of someone pointing a gun at unsuspecting students in a classroom. We've also seen a Pine Charter high school evacuated after multiple threats.
It was unfounded.
In this latest case, the teen's attorney said his client is not a threat. "He's a 14-year-old kid," Raticoff said. "He's a kid and kid's make stupid decisions and this was a really stupid decision."
The teens will be back in front of the judge on Wednesday for another detention hearing.
