SEBRING -- A 12-year-old Hill-Gustat Middle School student was arrested Monday, Dec. 16 and charged with two felonies after posting a school shooting threat on Instagram.

A student reported the threat, which said the school was “gonna get shot up” to his mother on Monday morning, and she then contacted the School Resource Deputy. Investigation by the Special Victims Unit revealed that the student who reported the threat was actually the one who made the threat. He said he did not want to go to school because he was getting bullied. 

The student now faces charges of making a written threat to kill or injure (a second-degree felony) and using a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony (a third-degree felony). He was turned over to the Department of Juvenile Justice. 

“Students need to realize that something like this will never be treated as a joke,” Sheriff Paul Blackman said. “Last school year, we worked with the School Board of Highlands County to create posters warning about this very thing, letting students know that a fake threat has real consequences.”