GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. – Clay County schools are dealing with their second lockdown in three days after a 17-year-old student posted a threat online at Clay High School in Green Cove Springs and was arrested.
The incident followed a separate lockdown two days earlier at Orange Park High School, where a student was charged with a misdemeanor for bringing a realistic-looking water gun on campus.
The Clay County Sheriff’s Office said it received a FortifyFL tip that said a student sent a message to someone recommending that they not attend school because he had a “need to kill.”
Deputies responded to the school, located the student, and after an interview, he was arrested and charged with written or electronic threats to kill, do bodily injury, or conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism.
Students ‘surprised’ by felony charge
Students at Clay High School said they were surprised to learn a fellow student was charged with a felony after posting the threat online.
For parents like Carolyn Conklin, whose son is a senior at Orange Park High School, the back-to-back lockdowns have been unsettling.
“We got a call that everything is on lockdown,” Conklin said. “Extremely scary, extremely, because my son was in class.”
Sheriff’s office: Students are not anonymous
Assistant Chief Chad Ricks, who runs the School Safety Division for the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, said the two incidents are not connected to students trying to skip finals as the school year winds down.
Ricks said students who think they can make threats anonymously online are wrong — suspects were identified in both cases.
“It’s not universal — not all teenagers have problems with understanding the consequences of these threats,” Ricks said. “But yes, we have had issues with that.”
Parents urged to have ‘the talk’
Ricks is urging parents to sit down with their children and make clear that threats — even ones made online — carry serious legal consequences.
“They need to go to the children, have a conversation with them, and let them know there are big consequences for their actions,” Ricks said.
The Clay County School District notified parents via phone alerts while the sheriff’s office worked to secure both campuses.