Sheriff’s posting of the mugshot of a boy accused of school threat draws praise, criticism

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Around the country, communities are being battered by a wave of school shooting threats, sparking emergency notifications, urgent group chats and heightened fears among parents that their child’s school could be the next Parkland or Sandy Hook or Uvalde — or any other town hit by mass shootings.

On Florida’s Atlantic coast, Sheriff Mike Chitwood of Volusia County said he got some of these same notifications after he walked his grandchildren to school this week.

“It just stuck with me because my cell phone was going off telling me about the other threats. Thinking to myself, how many parents in this country have done just what I just did,” Chitwood said, “and they never, ever, ever get to hold their loved one again.”

Fed up with school shooting threats in his community, Chitwood pledged to publicly identify students who make such threats.

On Monday, he posted the name and mugshot of an 11-year-old boy arrested for allegedly threatening to carry out a shooting at a middle school in his county. The decision swiftly drew praise and criticism amid the ongoing national debate over what it would take to stem the gun violence plaguing the nation.

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A video posted by Chitwood online shows airsoft guns, pistols, fake ammunition, knives and swords that investigators say the boy gathered. The footage later cuts to an officer leading the handcuffed boy from a squad car before he’s locked into an empty cell. The boy’s face is frequently visible in the video, which already has gained hundreds of thousands of social media views.

Then on Wednesday, Chitwood was at it again, posting a message online that “two more students are in custody follow a school shooting threat,” and adding of the teens, “We will introduce you to these two in the very near future.”

Chitwood this week told The Associated Press he doesn’t know if publicly shaming accused juveniles will be effective. But he had to act to get through to students and their parents.

Since the school year started a few weeks ago in Volusia County, Chitwood said, his office has reported more than 280 school threats compared to 352 in all of last year.

“Something has to be done,” Chitwood said. “Where are the parents?”

Under Florida law, juvenile court records are generally confidential and exempt from public release — unless the child is charged with a felony, as in this case.

Chitwood has a reputation of being a tough-talking figure and maintains he is within his rights to identify the boy.

“I’m not worried about the 2% that might get handcuffed that somebody might get offended about,” Chitwood said. “I’m worried about the other 98% that are trying to go to school and live their normal lives not in fear to get an education.”

Daniel Mears, a criminology professor at Florida State University who researches school shootings, said the sheriff’s actions are contrary to the spirit of the juvenile justice system.

“Juvenile records were supposed to be confidential for a reason. The idea was that kids would have a second shot in life,” Mears said.

Still, Mears said there have long been exceptions for particularly heinous crimes, noting school threats are treated differently.

“School shootings are just really unbelievably scary and concerning to people,” he said.

Among those applauding the sheriff’s actions is Max Schachter, whose son Alex was murdered along with 16 others in a 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

“We had a culture of complacency that led to the Parkland school shooting. And we can’t be complacent anymore,” Schachter told AP. “We should be holding the individuals that perpetrate these threats and and become mass shooters to the highest extent of the law. And ultimately we should be holding their parents responsible.”

Chitwood has said he’s investigating whether parents of kids who make threats can be held financially or criminally liable.

In Winder, Georgia, prosecutors have filed charges against the father of a 14-year-old boy accused of killing two students and two teachers in a recent high school shooting.

Keri Rodrigues, president of the education advocacy group National Parents Union, said what’s needed is gun control — and sufficient psychological support for children in crisis. Surveys show American youth are in the throes of an unprecedented mental health crisis.

“I think parents across the country are struggling with what to do with kids,” Rodrigues said. “It’s so difficult because we don’t have enough social workers. We don’t have enough school psychiatrists.”

Kathleen Miksits is the mother of two middle schoolers in Volusia County. She believes students and parents need to understand the toll these threats take on their community. Miksits kept her kids home one day this week after students at their school was targeted by a threat.

Still, she struggles with the thought that this 11-year-old boy may never live this down.

“Kids say things that they don’t mean. Or they don’t understand what they’re saying,” she said. “But on the other hand, this is an extremely serious matter and we keep having kids die.”

___ Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.