UPDATE:
Madison County Sheriff's Office and Madison County School officials issued an update following a 'concerning' threats of a school shooting through Social media.
See full press release below:
On Sunday at approximately 1:30 pm, the Madison County Sheriff's Office Communications Center received several calls concerning threats of a school shooting in Madison County via social media postings.
Sheriff Harper immediately deployed the Madison County Sheriff's Office Special Investigative Unit, Sheriff's Office Command Staff, and the School Resource Deputy Division. A focused investigation was initiated into the threats. The investigation further discovered that similar threats/postings had been received by and included Columbia County Schools. The Madison County Sheriff's Office received additional assistance from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Columbia County Sheriff's Office and the Madison County School District Superintendent in the attempts to locate the social media user account(s) information and identity of the user.
Throughout the investigation, numerous social media accounts were researched on multiple social media platforms as well as multiple internet service providers. After several hours of investigation, the suspect was identified as a 13-year-old student at the Madison County Central School and was taken into custody at 11:00 pm this same day.
In accordance with F.S. 985.04(2), as it relates to juveniles charged with a felony: the 13-year-old is identified as Chadveon Rashard Cherry of Madison Florida and charged with F.S. 836.10 2nd degree felony-Send Written or electronic threats to kill, do bodily injury, or conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism. After being arrested, Cherry is now currently being detained and in the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice in Tallahassee Florida.
The investigation continues to determine if Cherry acted alone or if other individuals created "copycat" fake accounts to further spread the threat.
Sheriff David Harper commends his entire Investigative Division, School Resource Officer Unit, his Command Staff, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Columbia County Sheriff's Office, and the Madison County School District for their prompt and appropriate responses and assistance during this investigation. It is with these continued partnerships that allow issues to be quickly resolved. The safety of our students, faculty, and staff as well as the security of our school campuses is and will remain top priority.
UPDATE:
The Madison County Sheriff's office said in a social media post late Sunday night, it had taken a 13-year old in custody. The teen was identified as the person responsible for making threats against the school in an Instagram post.
The case, however is not closed. Investigators are working to confirm that the child was acting alone. The Sheriff's Office says it will provide more updates Monday.
PREVIOUS:
The Madison County sheriff’s office is investigating what it considers an online threat to the school district.
Sunday afternoon the sheriff’s office posted on Facebook that it had been made aware of a social media post with an image of a gun threatening Madison Schools.
For that reason the department says out of an abundance of caution there will be an increased law enforcement presence around and on school campuses.
Parents are also being asked to encourage their children to report any threats they may see on social media.
Anyone with any information is being asked to contact the sheriff’s office at 850-973-4001, extension 1.
The sheriff's office says it is working with multiple social media platforms and internet providers as part of its investigation.
