LAKE WORTH BEACH, Fla. _ Miranda Perez was not happy when she heard her children would have to switch schools.
So unhappy, in fact, she threatened to shoot up the children's new school, Barton Elementary, days before the school year began, Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office records state.
Perez, 28, was arrested Sunday afternoon on an intimidation charge for reportedly threatening a mass shooting. She is being held in custody so she can undergo a mental health evaluation, court records show.
A man contacted sheriff's authorities on Sunday morning after video chatting through Facebook with Perez. He told deputies that Perez was upset her children would be attending a different elementary school this year and mentioned she wanted to "friend" Zachary Cruz on Facebook because "she likes violent things."
She also referenced Cruz's older brother, Nikolas Cruz, who admitted to killing 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland in a shooting spree last year.
The man said that after they hung up, Perez messaged him saying, "I'm thinking of doing a school shooting at Barton."
"It's there (sic) fault," she wrote.
Perez, who lives in Lake Worth Beach, told authorities she did send those messages and had thought about shooting the school, but added that she would never go through with it.
Records show that Perez lives in a neighborhood that was rezoned to Barton Elementary from South Grade Elementary this spring, part of a reshuffling of school attendance zones to relieve overcrowding at Highland Elementary and South Grade.
The switch affected 400 Lake Worth students.
District authorities said they did not have extra security on Barton's campus Monday, as Perez has been in custody without the possibility of posting bond since Sunday. A spokesperson also mentioned that law enforcement officers are at all of the district's schools every day.
