Florida fifth grader arrested, charged with threatening a mass shooting, police say

A fifth grade pupil in Florida was arrested over the weekend and charged with sending a text message threatening to carry out a mass capturing, authorities said.

In an announcement Saturday, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office said it had learned earlier that day of a "threatening textual content message" despatched by a pupil at an elementary faculty.

It said its local college threat enforcement team was immediately notified and began investigating. The 10-year-old boy was interviewed and charged later with "making a written risk to conduct a mass capturing," the sheriff's office stated.

In video shared by authorities, the boy could be seen being led into a police vehicle.

“This scholar’s behavior is sickening, particularly after the current tragedy in Uvalde, Texas,” Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno stated in a press release, noting that the risk got here just days after the deadly faculty taking pictures at Robb Elementary College left 19 college students and two lecturers lifeless.

“Proper now will not be the time to act like a little bit delinquent. It’s not humorous,” he stated. “This baby made a fake risk, and now he’s experiencing real consequences.”

Marceno mentioned his crew “didn’t hesitate one second...NOT ONE SECOND,” to research the incident.

The comment got here as authorities in Uvalde face mounting criticism over their response to the Could 24 school shooting after it got here to light that they waited roughly an hour for backup instead of instantly moving in on the gunman.

Chantal Da Silva is a breaking news editor for NBC Information Digital primarily based in London.