Police arrested this weekend a young man from Floridaafter receiving a tip that he had threatened a mass shooting at a school in a note posted on social media.
The post of Corey Anderson, 18, showed him with a pistol, a rifle and a bulletproof vest, along with a small text that said: “Hey Siri, directions to the nearest school,” revealed the sheriff of the county of Hillsborough, to the West Florida title, Chad Chronister, in a press release.
Anderson was arrested at his home near Tampa on Sunday afternoon and charged with making a written or electronic threat to carry out a mass shooting or an act of terrorism. The incident occurs while the country is still in a state of shock by the recent massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
“This type of threat is unacceptable. This man intentionally struck fear into our community as a sick joke, but be warned this is no laughing matter,” Chronister added.
The sheriff said his agency “will do everything in our power” to track down anyone who makes threats to a school.
“Protecting our students is our highest priority,” the police chief emphasized. “We take school threats very seriously. If you see anything suspicious, please contact us immediately,” he added.
The arrest came days after an 18-year-old walked into an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and fatally shot 19 children and two teachers.
The gunman was finally shot dead by law enforcement officers about 80 minutes after he entered the classroom in the predominantly Hispanic community that sits on farmland midway between San Antonio and the US-Mexico border.
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In the Florida case, agents discovered that the weapons in the photo were BB guns, according to the news release.
Anderson was jailed and later released on bail, jail records show, which did not list the name of an attorney who could speak on Anderson’s behalf. It is not yet clear what the amount of the bail was, nor who paid it.
