2023-10-07 02:27:41
Three Florida high schoolers were arrested after allegedly creating a list of students they wanted to kill, according to a Facebook post from the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office.
SJCSO says the Creekside High School students — two 14-year-old boys and one 15-year-old boy — made a “hit list,” as well as a “lethal hit list.”
In the Facebook postdeputies say they were notified of “suspicious communications” sent among the teens targeting multiple students.
St. Johns County Sheriff’s Lieutenant George Harrigan has since told NBC affiliate First Coast News that officials were notified of the suspicious text messages on Sept. 29, but they were only allegations with no evidence at the time.
After taking the students’ phones for forensic download, Harrigan says deputies discovered group text messages that targeted students, including photographs with faces circled, aerial photographs of Creekside High School with an on-campus location circled, and the use of firearms.
First Coast News reports that, according to one of the boy’s arrest reports, the messages also included class schedules and home addresses of the targeted students.
An arrest report also states that the three students formed “The United Boyopolis Socialist Republic,” as a “Russian Communist Group,” due to being bullied by other students. The boys allegedly created a logo that they planned to wear as an identifying insignia, as well as an application for potential group members.
First Coast News reports that one of the boys texted, “I am bringing my AK-47 tomorrow,” as another boy responded and said, “me too.”
The students were taken into custody at the St. Johns County Jail and suspended by the school district.
St. Johns County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Joseph Lukaszewski told First Coast News that all three students had their detention hearings Friday morning and that they are all ordered to “remain held secure in detention for 21 days or until further order of the court.”
“Nothing is more important to me than the safety of our children and this is another example of the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office commitment to protect the more than 50,000 students who attend classes on a daily basis,” said Sheriff Rob Hardwick in the office’s Facebook post.
“I am proud of the youth services deputies assigned to this investigation, who acted quickly on the information that was provided and prevented a potential tragedy,” he said.
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