Deputies: Teen left school threat in box for Santa
WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. (FOX 13) - A 15-year-old boy has been arrested after deputies say he wrote a letter saying he was going to shoot up Wiregrass Ranch High School.
Pasco County deputies said the letter was written last November and was found in a box of letters for Santa Claus at the Shops at Wiregrass Macy's store.
According to an arrest affidavit, the letter read, "I have been planning this for im, I am shooting up Wiregrass Ranch High School."
Deputies said the teen signed another student's name to the letter and denied making the threat, but his fingerprints were later detected on the paper. The teen's prints were already on file because of a previous misdemeanor arrest and investigators were able to make a match.
He was arrested Monday on a charge of making threats to kill or do bodily harm.
"Unfortunately, too many times you've seen the horror that can happen from school shootings across the United States. We have to take these seriously. We don't know what's in the mind of a student," said Kevin Doll, a spokesperson for the Pasco County Sheriff's Office. "We have to do the investigation to its conclusion and in this case we found out that he did write this letter threatening his school and he was subsequently arrested."
"I am very scared of going to school because of this kind of stuff, especially because of what happened over a year ago in Parkland," added Evan Blitzer, a student at Wiregrass Ranch High School. "The fact that I'm finding this out now and that it's almost the end of school, it makes me feel fortunate that it never did happen."