An 11-year-old boy was charged on Monday with a felony of mass shooting after showing his friends his collection of weapons and making violent threats during a FaceTime video call.
The minor, a resident of Volusia County, Florida, and a student at Creekside High School, showed his friends a collection of air rifles, pistols, and knives, and mentioned a blacklist of people he wanted to kill.
In a social media post, Volusia County Sheriff Michael Chitwood wrote: "We just arrested a Creekside High School student who threatened to carry out a shooting at Creekside High School or Silver Sands," noting that the detained individual claimed that "it was all a joke."
The identity of the child was protected due to the accusation being against a minor. However, according to an incident report sent to CNN by the Volusia County Sheriff's Office, the police found "several rifles and airsoft-style pistols, magazines, fake ammunition designed to look realistic, and various knives and swords" during the search of his home.
The arrest occurred following an anonymous report from another student at Creekside High School, which led officers to investigate a group of students, both from that school and from Silver Sands, who had participated in the FaceTime conversation with the minor, according to the report.
The other children confirmed the truth of the report and that they had seen the weapons, although they could not determine whether they were real or not at the time of the video call.
This incident occurs just over 10 days after a shooting at Apalachee High School in the American town of Winder, Georgia.
There, four people lost their lives and several others were injured, with another minor being detained and charged as an adult, and his father arrested and charged with multiple offenses, including involuntary manslaughter, second-degree murder, and cruelty to minors.
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