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Deputies: Palmetto middle schooler arrested for posting threatening video to social media

The video simulated shots being fired in a classroom with a toy gun, the Manatee County Sheriff's Office reports.

PALMETTO, Fla. — A middle school student was arrested Wednesday after posting a video to social media about "shooting up a classroom," the Manatee County Sheriff's Office reports.

At around 9:26 a.m., a Fortify Florida tip was received about a video on social media simulating shots being fired in a classroom with a toy gun.

The TikTok user was quickly identified as a student at Buffalo Creek Middle School in Palmetto. According to the sheriff's office, the student was found at school and admitted to making the video.

The middle schooler was arrested for making written or electronic threats to kill, do bodily injury or conduct a mass shooting – which is a second-degree felony.

"There is no evidence that this student was involved in other recent school threats in Manatee County," the sheriff's office said in a statement.

There's an ongoing investigation into the incident.

Another middle schooler out of Pasco County was arrested after posting anonymous threats on social media that resulted in hours-long disruptions at several nearby schools, according to a news release.

School authorities said the student admitted to sending the threats after they were identified and located by the Pasco Sheirff's Office.

"The student has been charged with making Written Threats to Kill, Disruption of a School Function, and Making a False Report to Law Enforcement," the news release explained.

The threats against Rushe Middle School led to it and Sunlake High School being placed on Controlled Campus status most of the day.

10 Tampa Bay's BriShon Mitchell contributed to this report.

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