North Port 12-year-old arrested for school shooting threat

A 12-year-old from North Port who attends school in Port Charlotte has been arrested for making a mass shooting threat on Snapchat.

Cape Coral police say they arrested the boy after the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office informed them about the threat that was made on a Snapchat account that was showing a location in Cape Coral.

Police say the boy’s Snapchat account was used to connect him to the threat. They say he was wearing the same clothes as were seen in an earlier Snapchat on the same account’s story.

In an arrest report, police say the threat read, “to the person who said if I’m secure thanks wanna shoot up a school with me.”

According to the Cape Coral Police Department, the 12-year-old first told them he was unaware of the threat, then said it was a joke, then admitted to making the threat, and said he was often bullied. Police say the boy told them he had no intentions of following through and did not have a school in mind when making the threat.

Police say the boy and another person told them that he had no access to firearms.

The 12-year-old was taken to the Lee County Juvenile Assessment Center, where he will remain in secure detention for 21 days.

He is set to appear before a judge on August 8.