Dade student questioned by police after posing with assault-style rifle on Snapchat
One week after a school shooting in Parkland rekindled a long-running debate about gun control, police were ordered to speak with a student in Miami-Dade County who posted a photo of himself on Snapchat holding an assault-style rifle with the message, “Here’s a big fat F--- YOU to everyone.”
The Miami New Times reported that the student, whom the New Times did not identify because he was never charged with a crime, was visited by school police from his West Kendall magnet school.
Police spoke to the student and his parents and determined he was not a threat, the New Times reported. It is unclear if the student’s post was meant as a political statement.
Terra Environmental Research Institute, which the student attends, is about 50 miles from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, where on Valentine’s Day a former student used an assault-style rifle to kill 17 students and faculty members and wound 15 others.
“Miami-Dade Schools Police thoroughly investigated this incident, and although the student’s actions clearly demonstrated a lack of judgment, they did not constitute a threat,” school district spokesman John Schuster told New Times via email. “School administrators will be meeting with the student’s parents to discuss possible disciplinary measures, as outlined in the Code of Student Conduct.”
On Feb. 15, Davie police announced the arrest of an 11-year-old girl, who officers say wrote a threatening note and slipped it under the assistant principal’s door. The same day, Hallandale High received threats that prompted an investigation.
A day later, a 15-year-old Lauderhill boy posted on Instagram that he was going to “kill people” at several Broward schools. He was later arrested. The sheriff’s office said he “appeared to be remorseful and claimed his post was a joke aimed at scaring his cousin.”
In Miami-Dade alone, the threats jumped to about 50 in one day, Miami-Dade Schools Police Chief Ian A. Moffett said following the Parkland shooting. Only one ended in an arrest.
This story was originally published February 23, 2018 at 8:12 PM with the headline "Dade student questioned by police after posing with assault-style rifle on Snapchat."