A teenager was arrested for threatening to shoot up a Florida high school.
Mya Elizabeth Young, 15, is charged with making a written or electronic threat to carry out a mass shooting or act of terrorism after police obtained text messages the suspect had sent to a classmate.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office released some of the chilling correspondence on Tuesday, shortly after carrying out Young’s arrest.
The suspect, whom police referred to by the pronouns “he,” was handcuffed at Alonso High School in Tampa, where threats of violence have kept law enforcement busy lately.
In Hillsborough County, 260 threats have been received from students since September, just weeks into the school year. Young’s text messages are particularly graphic, containing threats of violence against several classmates.
Mya Elizabeth Young, 15, is charged with making a written or electronic threat to carry out a mass shooting or act of terrorism.
Police have released this text message that Young sent to a classmate. In an accompanying statement, they referred to the suspect using the pronouns he/him.
“Keep playing with me, I’ll kill you too,” reads one of the published texts.
‘Look, I’m going to take a gun to school and shoot all of you.
‘Starting with (REDACTED) and ending with (REDACTED) and (REDACTED) and everyone around.
“I’ll start with (REDACTED) and then I’ll end with you (REDACTED),” he continues.
“And then I’m going to kill people. I’m going to kill everybody. Watch.”
Along with the texts, police released a mugshot of Young as well as a brief statement.
It detailed how police had arrested the suspect “for threatening to ‘shoot up’ (his high school) in a text message correspondence,” while outlining the charges filed against the possible shooter.
The suspect was handcuffed at Alonso High School, as seen here, on Tuesday during school hours.
It was posted to the police department at 4 p.m., about an hour after the school day ended.
HCSO’s School Threat Assessment and Response Team responded to the school to arrest Young, deputies said, just a week after they began investigating another threat that forced Newsome Middle School to go into lockdown for several hours.
In addition to being charged with threatening to commit a shooting, Young was charged with unlawful use of a two-way communication device, a crime unique to Florida that is punishable by up to five years in prison.
It occurs when police believe they can prove that a suspect knowingly and voluntarily used a device, such as a computer or phone, to help commit a crime.
Written or electronic threats to kill, cause bodily injury, or carry out a mass shooting are considered a second-degree felony and are punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
The teen could also face a $10,000 fine if prosecutors decide to treat him as an adult.
Young’s gender is also unclear, as officers used the word “he” to address him.
DailyMail.com has reached out to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office for more information as it and other nearby departments continue to deal with cases involving similar threats.
The school is located in Tampa, where threats of violence have kept local law enforcement busy.
As of Tuesday night, it was unclear whether Young will be tried as an adult, and prosecutors had not yet issued a statement.
On Friday, September 13, threats to shoot a teacher and bring a bomb to the Newsome High School campus were posted on Fortify Florida, a suspicious activity reporting tool that allows users to report information to law enforcement agencies.
Deputies responded and the school was placed on lockdown while multiple HCSO units, including the School Threat Assessment Response Squad and SWAT Team, systematically searched the school to ensure student safety.
About 200 officers were involved in the search, spending hours meticulously searching buildings, conducting security checks and working with school administrators to evacuate students.
Ultimately, no weapons or credible threats were discovered, although the investigation is ongoing.
“The upheaval and trauma experienced by these students, staff and parents today is unimaginable, and no community should have to endure such fear and uncertainty,” Sheriff Chad Chronister said at a news conference at the time.
‘Every member of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, including myself, is committed to deploying all available resources to ensure the safety of our schools is not compromised.’
A total of eight threats were sent against Newsome High School that day alone.
On Friday, September 13, threats to shoot a teacher and bring a bomb to the Newsome High School campus were posted on Fortify Florida, an activity reporting tool that allows users to report information to law enforcement. The threat turned out to be false, but is still being investigated.
During the past week, HCSO investigated 111 school threats submitted to Fortify Florida alone, and 260 total this month.
Nearby counties such as Sarasota, Pinellas, Polk and Pasco are also receiving reports of threats, with sheriff’s offices in those counties reporting 109, 65, 140 and 100 tips, respectively.
Of those, there have been only a handful of arrests, most of them in Polk County, where there have been 24 since the start of the school year.
Compare this to Pinellas and Sarasota, which have made three arrests involving threats each, and Pasco none.
As of Tuesday, Hillsborough had also made no arrests, but the case against the young man changed that.
At the time of writing this article, the investigation is ongoing, meanwhile the suspect is in custody.
