MARION COUNTY, Fla. – A Belleview Middle School student claimed he was dared to create a fake Snapchat account and post a threat about a teacher who yelled at him, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies said an account with the username AlexAce09 messaged students Wednesday evening claiming that they were going to shoot a specific teacher and any students who came to the school the next morning.
Internet records showed the message was sent from an address in Ocala where a 13-year-old Belleview Middle School student lives.
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The boy was interviewed at school on Thursday and deputies said he admitted to creating the account as a prank because he was dared to and he threatened the specific teacher because that teacher yelled at him in the cafeteria.
The teen does not have access to any guns, records show.
Officials said that Belleview Middle School normally has about a 10% absence rate but on Thursday, that number swelled to 40% as a result of the threat.
“Marion County Public Schools and Marion County Sheriff’s Office take every threat seriously and have taken a zero tolerance stance for this type of behavior,” deputies wrote in a news release. “The safety of the children in our community is paramount and threats like this that work to disrupt our educational systems and our community will always be addressed seriously.”
[RELATED: Marion deputies investigate second threat toward Belleview Middle and High Schools]
The teen was arrested on a charge of writing or sending a threat to kill and disturbing the peace.
So far this week, three threats have been made against Belleview Middle School.
On Monday, a threat against Belleview Middle School and Belleview High School was posted on social media after an on-campus fight, according to authorities. A 14-year-old boy has since been arrested in connection with that threat.
Another threat was posted online Wednesday evening, but deputies believe in that case that the student’s account from which the threat originated was hacked. That case remains open.