Bay County Sheriff’s Office Announces Two New Arrests in School Threats

PANAMA CITY — The Bay County Sheriff’s Office announced two more arrests Tuesday in connection with threats of school violence.

In the first case, a student at Merritt Brown Middle School is accused of sending a message to a group on social media. According to a BSCO press release, the message read: “What if I shot the school TD?” TD is slang for today.

This message was sent on Friday, September 20 and reported on September 24. Once the message was reported, the BCSO Merritt School Resource Deputy contacted BCSO Criminal Investigations. BCSO uniformed patrol deputies identified the 13-year-old student who made the threat and took him into custody for false report of armed violence and disorderly conduct.

In the second case, another Bay District Schools student is accused of making threatening comments while riding a school bus. The student claimed to be a “real gangster” and had “his belt” on him, according to the sheriff’s office news release.

“This caused the bus he was on to be delayed and caused concern to the bus driver, the paraprofessional on board and the students who heard the comment,” the statement said. “When questioned, the student stated that he was ‘dared’ to say this, so he did. He stated that he had to be ‘reported.’”

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The 12-year-old student was charged with disorderly conduct and disruption of a school function, the statement said.

Sheriff Tommy Ford reminds anyone who comes across a threatening message online to report it to a local law enforcement agency.

These arrests follow two other arrests made Friday in Bay County. In those cases, two students were charged with making false threats of violence. The district and law enforcement continue to make school safety a top priority.

This article was originally published on The News Herald: Two more students arrested in Bay County school threats