A Florida sheriff told Newsmax he stood behind releasing the mug shot of a 10-year-old boy who was arrested for threatening to commit a school shooting.
"We are going to post their pictures, and I'm taking that stance because I am not going to be the sheriff standing and talking about, God forbid, an incident — especially after the tragedy that happened in Uvalde," Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno told "National Report" on Thursday.
Police on Saturday arrested a fifth grader in Cape Coral, Florida, for sending a threatening text message. He was charged with making a written threat to conduct a mass shooting.
The Lee County arrest was made four days after an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
Lee County's Sheriff Office released the boy's mug shot and a video showing him being walked in handcuffs.
Marceno said his department became aware of the boy's text after a "member of the general public forwarded a text message" to his phone.
"I immediately didn't wait one second and went right to my executive command staff," the sheriff said on "National Report." "Pictures of rifles, pictures of guns, money and saying, 'Get ready' — all the things that perceived to be an actual threat, which we know is credible.
"Every threat is credible. You don't wait one second, leave no stone unturned. You don't ignore red flags. Immediately, our team was in full force. Our detectives, the real-time intelligence center, and look, we're at the kid's house minutes later."
In another interview, Marceno encouraged parents to discuss the seriousness of making such threats.
"If a 10-year-old, 12-year-old, 18-year-old presses the trigger, the aftermath is the same," Marceno told Fox News. "Sit your child down and explain, because we know children make mistakes, but we need parents and guardians to sit down and tell them: Fake threat, real consequence."
The sheriff added, "We need to get back to the old school and hold people accountable."
"When I was growing up, the nun hit you with a ruler, a wooden ruler," Marceno told Fox News. "You understood what was right and wrong, and today, what do we do? Society says, Well, if your parent disciplines you and there's any kind of abuse, come forward, so we can report your parent. So parents are afraid — they're afraid to discipline their kids."
Lee County in recent years has released at least nine juvenile mugshots, the Daily Mail said.
Florida statute 39.045(9) includes a provision for releasing juvenile information when a child is "arrested for a felony (or convicted of three or more misdemeanors)."
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