NR 18-11 Brevard County Sheriff’s Office Provides Investigative Update Relating To Instagram School Threat

Throughout the night our agents worked to identify the poster who had “reposted” a picture and the written threat of, “I’m coming space coast, watch out.” While the initial post and threat was initiated in South Carolina yesterday by a South Carolina teen who was subsequently arrested, the post was reposted last night by a teen who resides in the Canaveral Groves area relating to Space Coast Jr/Sr High School.

As a result of the repost our agency initiated a local investigation that identified a 14-year-old female student at Space Coast Jr/Sr High School as the person who posted the second threat. The student was arrested early this morning by members of our team and charged with Written Threats to Kill or do Bodily Harm. The female student was transported to the Juvenile Detention Center.

The investigation into the post began after the Sheriff’s Office was made aware of the posting on Instagram. Sheriff’s Office Agent Chris Castiello who is assigned to the FBI Task Force began the task of tracking down the origin of the communication and was able to identify and locate the juvenile suspect early this morning. The female student had indicated that she thought it was “funny,” because everyone else was doing it and the reaction it was generating.

I would like to express our appreciation to BPS Superintendent Dr. Desmond Blackburn and his wonderful team for working with us to help protect the students, staff and volunteers. Dr. Blackburn stated, “We know our families are concerned, and we are grateful for their vigilance in reporting threatening behavior or social-media posts. We will continue to work closely with the Brevard Sheriff’s Office to protect our children and staff. Our team will keep families informed about their schools as quickly as possible by text, email, social media and recorded phone calls.”

The Sheriff’s Office wishes to thank our many citizens who alerted our agency to the posting as we greatly appreciate the partnership we have in working together to protect Brevard County!

Anyone with information in reference to this investigation is asked to please call Agent Chris Castiello of the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, FBI JTTF Task Force at 321-757-6067.

For additional information concerning this News Release, please call PIO Tod Goodyear of the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office at 321-501-7594.