Florida boy arrested after calling in fake school shooting to go home: Police

A boy in Florida was taken into custody after he allegedly reported a fake school shooting on Tuesday because he wanted to leave school early.

The student, identified as an 11-year-old boy, made the call to authorities about a shooting at the Horizon Academy at Marion Oaks at about 9:40 a.m., according to a report.

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He told the Marion County Sheriff’s Office that there was a shooter in the school’s hallway, leading the entire school to go on lockdown and a large law enforcement presence to flood the school grounds.

Neither a shooter nor any victims were found by authorities, and students and staff continued their day.

However, authorities began an investigation concerning the call, leading them to the 11-year-old, who initially denied being responsible for the call, according to the report.

Investigators soon determined that he had used a friend’s phone to make the call and report an active shooter, authorities said.

“Help, there is a school shooter walking through the hallway,” he told emergency dispatchers, the report noted.

Multiple people later identified the 11-year-old as the caller and told authorities that he told them he wanted to go to the school clinic so he could go home early, according to the report.

“All of this was a prank,” the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said.

The boy’s parents were contacted by law enforcement, but they did not answer any questions without a lawyer present, the report noted.

“This student put fear into his fellow students, staff, and parents. And for what? A prank? Because you wanted to go home?” Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said in a statement.

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“I will not tolerate my young citizens being fearful of going to school because you wanted to be a ‘jokester’ in hopes of going home. The law requires that any person who makes these types of false reports pay restitution for the cost of the law enforcement response which, in this case, will equal hundreds upon hundreds of man-hours. This young man is going to need to mow a lot of lawns to pay that bill.”

The student behind the call is facing falsely reporting a mass shooting, using a two-way communication device to commit a felony, disrupting a school function, and misusing 911 charges, authorities said.