A ten-year-old Florida boy is taken away in handcuffs after police find a threatening message on his phone. The fifth-grader allegedly threatened to commit a mass shooting at his elementary school only a few days after the Texas elementary school was gunned down by a troubled teen leaving twenty-one people dead, including nineteen innocent little children. Now, Daniel Issac Marquez, 10, from Florida, has been arrested and charged for allegedly threatening to murder people at his school called, Patriot Elementary School in Cape Coral.
Marquez faces a charge of making a written threat to commit a mass shooting after he sent a message about the potential killing spree. Although Marquez never meant to really follow through with his plans for mass murder, he still made the fake threat, which left police baffled and outraged since it came so close to the killings in Texas.
Police believe that this Florida ten-year-old should face real charges because his threat was totally inappropriate. They also said that he was acting “like a little delinquent” and, therefore, should be treated like an adult, so he could finally experience the” real consequences” of threatening to commit mass murder.
Cape Coral has faced numerous threats of mass violence in recent days. Marquez’s written threat was the second one. On Thursday, only a few days after the Texas teen gunned down innocent children, a woman claimed that she would bring an active bomb to high school graduation. She said she was going to strap the explosive device to her body and enter the graduation, where she would detonate it and cause as much damage to innocent people as possible.
Meanwhile, Marquez was arrested on Saturday. Sheriff Carmine Marceno called the boy’s messages “sickening” and said that the child needs to learn from his mistake.
“This student’s behavior is sickening, especially after the recent tragedy in Uvalde, Texas. Making sure our children are safe is paramount. We will have law and order in our schools! My team didn’t hesitate one second…NOT ONE SECOND to investigate this threat.”
The sheriff later added: “Real consequences. Lee County will have law and order.”
Patriot Elementary School was immediately placed on lockdown following Marquez’s arrest. Police are still investigating the case and trying to figure out a motive for why the boy would want to harm his classmates. It is unclear if he will be charged as an adult or a juvenile.
Either way, it is certain that this young Florida boy will be facing some serious charges and will have to learn a tough lesson about the consequences of making threats of mass violence. Let this be a warning to other children out there who might be thinking about making similar threats – they will not be taken lightly, and you could end up in handcuffs, just like Daniel Issac Marquez.
What do you think should happen to this young boy? Should he be charged as an adult or a juvenile? Do you think that children who make threats of mass violence should be treated the same as adults? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments below.