Around the country, communities are being battered by a wave of school shooting threats, sparking emergency notifications, urgent group chats and heightened fears among parents that their child鈥檚 school could be the next Parkland or Sandy Hook or Uvalde 鈥� or any other town hit by .
On Florida鈥檚 Atlantic coast, Sheriff Mike Chitwood of Volusia County said he got some of these same notifications after he walked his grandchildren to school this week.
鈥淚t just stuck with me because my cellphone was going off telling me about the other threats. Thinking to myself, how many parents in this country have done just what I just did,鈥� Chitwood said, 鈥渁nd they never, ever, ever get to hold their loved one again.鈥�
Fed up with school shooting threats in his community, Chitwood pledged to students accused of making such threats.
On Monday, he posted the name and mugshot of an 11-year-old boy arrested for allegedly threatening to carry out a shooting at a middle school in his county. The decision swiftly drew praise and criticism amid the ongoing national debate over what it would take to stem the gun violence the nation. On Wednesday evening he released another video online showing two more young people, identified as 16- and 17-year-olds, in handcuffs and being led to jail over what he called another school threat.
The initial video posted by Chitwood online showed what an arrest report described as 鈥渧arious airsoft style rifles and pistols, magazines, fake ammunition ... and several knives and swords鈥� that investigators say the 11-year-old boy gathered. The footage later cuts to an officer leading the handcuffed boy from a squad car before he鈥檚 locked into an empty cell. The boy鈥檚 face is frequently visible in the video, which already has gained hundreds of thousands of social media views.
Two days later, Chitwood was at it again, posting a message online: 鈥淭wo more students are in custody following a school shooting threat鈥� and adding of the teens, 鈥淲e will introduce you to these two in the very near future.鈥�
Hours later the sheriff posted a Facebook video showing two teens being led in handcuffs from a law enforcement van into separate empty cells. He is heard saying in the post: 鈥淕o talk to the families who have lost a loved one in a school shooting. These little knuckleheads think it鈥檚 funny? Go talk to those parents and see how funny this is.鈥�
The AP generally does not identify anyone under 18 accused of a crime or transmit images that would reveal their identity.
Chitwood this week told The Associated Press he doesn鈥檛 know if publicly shaming accused juveniles will be effective. But he had to act to get through to students and their parents.
Since the school year started a few weeks ago in Volusia County, Chitwood said, his office has reported more than 280 school threats compared to 352 in all of last year.
鈥淪omething has to be done,鈥� Chitwood said. 鈥淲here are the parents?鈥�
Under Florida law, juvenile court records are generally confidential and exempt from public release 鈥� unless the child is charged with a felony, as in this case.
Chitwood has a reputation of being a tough-talking figure and maintains he is within his rights to identify such young people.
鈥淚鈥檓 not worried about the 2% that might get handcuffed that somebody might get offended about,鈥� Chitwood said. 鈥淚鈥檓 worried about the other 98% that are trying to go to school and live their normal lives not in fear to get an education.鈥�
Daniel Mears, a criminology professor at Florida State University who researches school shootings, said the sheriff鈥檚 actions are contrary to the spirit of the juvenile justice system.
鈥淛uvenile records were supposed to be confidential for a reason. The idea was that kids would have a second shot in life,鈥� Mears said.
Still, Mears said there have long been exceptions for particularly heinous crimes, noting school threats are treated differently.
鈥淪chool shootings are just really unbelievably scary and concerning to people,鈥� he said.
Among those applauding the sheriff鈥檚 actions is , whose son Alex was murdered along with 16 others in a 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
鈥淲e had a culture of complacency that led to the Parkland school shooting. And we can鈥檛 be complacent anymore,鈥� Schachter told AP. 鈥淲e should be holding the individuals that perpetrate these threats and become mass shooters to the highest extent of the law. And ultimately we should be holding their parents responsible.鈥�
Chitwood has said he鈥檚 investigating whether parents of kids who make threats can be held financially or criminally liable.
The 鈥� Jennifer and James Crumbley 鈥� were sentenced in April to at least 10 years in prison as a Michigan judge lamented missed opportunities that could have prevented their teenage son Ethan from possessing a gun and . The parents were convicted of involuntary manslaughter earlier in the year.
In Winder, Georgia, prosecutors have filed against the father of a 14-year-old boy accused of killing in a recent high school shooting.
Keri Rodrigues, president of the education advocacy group National Parents Union, said what鈥檚 needed is gun control 鈥� and sufficient psychological support for children in . Surveys show American youth are in the throes of an unprecedented .
鈥淚 think parents across the country are struggling with what to do with kids,鈥� Rodrigues said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 so difficult because we don鈥檛 have enough social workers. We don鈥檛 have enough school psychiatrists.鈥�
Kathleen Miksits is the mother of two middle schoolers in Volusia County. She believes students and parents need to understand the toll these threats take on their community. Miksits kept her kids home one day this week after students at their school was targeted by a threat.
Still, she struggles with the thought that this 11-year-old boy may never live this down.
鈥淜ids say things that they don鈥檛 mean. Or they don鈥檛 understand what they鈥檙e saying,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut on the other hand, this is an extremely serious matter and we keep having kids die.鈥�
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This story has been corrected to show an arrest report said the 11-year-old boy had 鈥渧arious airsoft style rifles and pistols鈥� 鈥� not airsoft rifles, pistols.
