Two Hillsborough County students and one from Manatee County have been arrested on felony charges of making verbal threats against their high schools.
Tampa police said Tuesday that the students were arrested even though the threats were later determined not to be credible. They each face second-degree felony charges of making a false report concerning the use of a firearm.
A 15-year-old student had been suspended from Middleton High School but returned to campus Monday. When he was asked to leave, he threatened to return and shoot up the school. He told police he had been talking about the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting with other students before the incident.
Police said the 16-year-old student arrested Tuesday told a Robinson High teacher that he'd return and shoot up the school if she didn't change his grade.
A 14-year-old was arrested in Manatee County for making a school shooting threat toward Manatee High School, police said.
The Bradenton Herald reports Bradenton police found a note last Thursday threatening a shooting this Thursday at Manatee High School. The boy was charged Tuesday with making a false report concerning planting a bomb, an explosive, or a weapon of mass destruction, or concerning the use of firearms in a violent manner.
Bradenton police Lt. Brian Thiers says a surveillance video and subsequent interviews led them to the teen, who confessed. Thiers says the boy's motive is unknown at this time.
Police also found another note Tuesday threatening violence at the school at 10:05 a.m. Wednesday. Thiers says the threat, more generic than the arrested teen's, is being taken seriously.
