The arrest Thursday of a South Carolina high school student who was charged in connection with a Snapchat post and photo warning of a "round two of Florida" continues to have ripple effects among some South Florida schools.
On Friday morning, the Davie Police Department said parents and students have been calling to report this "round 2" threat against Broward schools, including Davie's Western High, and urges people not to call the department to report this particular post.
"Please do not contact the police to report this image on social media. The poster has been arrested in South Carolina," Davie PD's tweet read.
The image went viral, fueled by widespread anxiety stemming from Wednesday's school shooting at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17 people. This heightened the perception of the threat and the text kept getting altered on social media and text messages to include the names of local schools, such as Western High and J.P. Taravella High in Coral Springs, said Davie's Sgt. Mark Leone.
"That picture keeps circulating and people keep calling. Somebody, in the midst of things, puts in text (like) 'Western High' and other kids keep getting it. There's no way to stop it. This kid was arrested. It was a hoax. Parents keep getting it. My sister-in-law, she got it, and somebody said it was Taravella. We put on our Facebook not to call if you see this picture," Leone said.
Spartanburg County Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Kevin Bobo said in a statement to the Associated Press that a Broome High School student's parent alerted deputies about the "round 2" social media threat Wednesday night. Bobo said the Snapchat photo depicted a student wearing a mask and holding an assault rifle.
The Broward Sheriff's Office said the threat spread online in various forms with multiple schools being mentioned, including Cypress Bay High School, CBS4 reported.
