The Broward County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday it arrested a teenager for threatening to kill fellow students with a pipe bomb, nearly two weeks after it responded to the fatal school shooting in Parkland, Florida.
“A 16-year-old Pompano Beach boy who threatened to kill students and had a pipe bomb in his home was arrested Monday night,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
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“Around 4 p.m. Feb. 26, the teen was playing an online video game when he made the alarming statement. A tipster called Boca Raton Police Department about the teen. The police investigated, and when they discovered the teen lived in Broward County, Boca Raton police notified the Broward Sheriff’s Office,” the news release continued.
“BSO deputies responded to the suspect’s Pompano Beach home and found a homemade pipe bomb and weapons. Deputies with BSO’s bomb squad, violent crimes and strategic investigations divisions responded, along with Homeland Security and the FBI,” the statement added.
A 16-year-old Pompano Beach boy who threatened to kill students and had a pipe bomb in his home was arrested Monday night. Read more: https://t.co/F6ehVmPTYg
— Broward Sheriff (@browardsheriff) February 27, 2018
Finally, the Sheriffs Office revealed that “the teen is facing a felony charge for possessing explosives.” No further details on the case have been released at the time of this writing.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office has been criticized for its handling of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, when 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz walked into the school and opened fire. Cruz was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder, one for each of the 14 students and three adults he confessed to killing.
During the tragic shooting, one of the school’s coaches, Aaron Feis, threw himself in front of students to shield them from gunfire. “I coached with him,” Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel eventually revealed in a press conference.
Sheriff Israel then added that as a coach “you’ll get 2000 kids” who come through under your guidance, and that when Feis was killed, “he did it protecting others…that’s who Aaron Feis was.”
Classes at Marjory Stoneman Douglas recently resumed, with one student speaking to reporters the same day and saying, “I’m so grateful to be here.”
During a press conference on Monday morning, Maddy Wilford added that she and her fellow survivors wouldn’t be here “without those officers and first responders and these amazing doctors.”
She also thanked people from all over the nation who have been sending support to her and the other students.
“I definitely wouldn’t be here without it,” she said.
“I love the fact that we’re sticking together through this and I’m just glad that I’m making a full recovery and everything’s been going so smoothly,” Wilford concluded.
