Police: 13-year-old girl charged in LaVilla school bomb threat

Students evacuated twice in one day after arts middle school bomb threat

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A 13-year-old female student at LaVilla School of the Arts was arrested Wednesday and charged with making a false bomb threat, Duval County School Police announced Friday.

The principal of LaVilla School of the Arts told parents in a robocall Thursday night that an arrest was made in connection with the threat Sept. 13 that kept just over 1,000 middle schoolers off the campus for most of the day.

"Making the bomb threat is serious and has immediate and long-term consequences, including criminal charges, student discipline and monetary fines," Principal Lianna Knight told parents in the call. "It also causes the students and staff to lose valuable instructional time, as well as injecting fear and frustration in the community."

Kayleigh Shyuann Owen came with her attorney to the school board police station Wednesday to turn herself in. She was booked into the Duval County jail and turned over to the Department of Juvenile Justice.

Duval County school police and administrators evacuated staff from the school before it opened on Sept. 13 after a series of threats on social media were discovered. Arriving students were directed to the Prime Osborn Convention Center, where they spent the first hour of the day. They were evacuated again about 11 a.m. while police, the bomb squad and K-9s conducted a secondary search of the school.

That morning, News4Jax found the Instagram account with the name "lavilla.killer" that showed several photos, including a hand holding a hand grenade, an image of the school and the word "bomb" on a background, names of the "main people that have to die" and the message, "At 12:00 I will bomb the school."

Detectives contacted Instagram and obtained the IP address of the account, which was created at 1:46 a.m. on the morning of the threat. The IP address was traced to an AT&T account at a home in Jacksonville. Authorities got a warrant, searched the house and seized electronic equipment, including an iPhone that police say was used by the student and her grandmother.

A forensic search of the phone found a Google search history for "threats to a school," "bombs" and images that police said were identical to those posted to Instagram. 

After announcing the arrest, Duval County superintendent of schools, Dr. Nikolai Vitti, sent this statement:

The safe and secure learning environment of our students and school community is of paramount importance. On Wednesday, September 21, Duval County School Police arrested a student in regards to a false bomb threat at LaVilla School of the Arts that was received by the school on September, 13. Making a bomb threat has immediate and long-term consequences including criminal charges, student discipline and monetary fines. We take these threats seriously as they cause significant disruption to our learning day, forces our students and staff to lose valuable instruction time, incites negative emotion and frustration among our school and community. Similarly, I am encouraging parents continue to discuss with students the consequences of bomb threats."

News4Jax crime and safety analyst Gil Smith said when he was a school resource officer, he met with students to talk about crimes and consequences. Smith says Owen probably didn’t take those consequences into consideration, given how the crime was committed.

“This is not uncommon on social media. Either they’ll post things, make a threat on social media or, afterwards, they’ll brag about it, talk about it with other students that they did this," Smith said. "They’re just not thinking of the serious consequences. And, in some cases, not understanding that it’s against the law.”

Smith said the majority of the time, school threats are pranks, but they have to be taken seriously.

Day of disruption

Not only were the threats and evacuations an inconvenience, it costs taxpayers a lot of money. Law enforcement officers spent most of the day either searching the school or detouring traffic around the campus, the school district had to bus students to the convention center -- twice -- feed them lunch and keep them there most of the day.

District staff joined school administrators in dealing with the students who were evacuated and their parents who came to pick them up.

"I feel like it's all hands on deck; a lot of district people," parent Leah Goodwyne said. "It's not ideal, but I think it's a good plan to keep the kids safe and make sure the parents know what's going on."

While the total costs won't be tabulated for a while, it is expected to be significant.

According to a CNBC investigation, districts across the United States reported losses of more than $250,000 from school closings and bomb squad searches. Last year, when administrators closed all public schools in Los Angeles for one day because of threats, it cost the city $29 million, including losses of state funding for shortened class time or lower attendance.

It also cost parents money for leaving their job and standing in the long line for pickup.

"I am losing productivity for my job, and I will probably have to make it up some way," parent Toban said.
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