11-Year-Old Arrested for Alleged Graffiti Referencing School Shooting

The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office arrested an 11-year-old girl for a school shooting message she’s accused of writing on the bathroom wall at Indian Trails Middle School. The girl, whose name was not publicized in the FCSO’s public release, told deputies she did so on a dare.

An investigation into the threat began when the words “school shooting Feb 4th:)” were found written on the bathroom wall, the FCSO says. Once the writing was found, school administrators worked with ITMS’s school resource deputy to locate the student believed to have written the graffiti.

Upon being identified, the girl was questioned about the message. The FCSO says she claimed to have done so on a dare from someone she communicated with online. This person is someone the girl only knows virtually, the FCSO said.

In addition to the dare, the girl also reportedly said she wrote the message out of boredom. She explained she didn’t believe doing so would result in a serious investigation or big deal for the school. Nonetheless, the 11-year-old was charged with making a written threat to commit a mass shooting or terrorism act. She was taken to the county jail before being transferred to the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice.

“This behavior is never tolerated on any of our Flagler Schools campuses. Threatening the well-being of our students carries immediate consequences and are handled in partnership with the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office,” said Flagler Schools Superintendent LaShakia Moore. “We encourage everyone to always take these matters seriously. Student safety remains our top priority.”

“School safety is our top priority, and we take every threat seriously,” added Flagler Sheriff Rick Staly. “This is a great example of why we have school resource deputies on every Flagler Schools campus. It allows us to take immediate action to quickly respond to any threat or incident.”