‘Bored’ student writes bomb threat on wall, Florida cops say

A middle school student wrote a threatening message on a bathroom wall in her school “because she was bored,” Florida police said in a statement.

School officials received a report of threatening graffiti in a girl’s bathroom at Shelley S. Boone Middle School in Haines City, about 40 miles southwest of Orlando, on Oct. 26, according to the Haines City Police Department.

The graffiti read “I am blow up this school!!!” along with “Date: 11.5.2022” with a small heart drawn underneath it.

School resource officers investigated identified a 13-year-old they suspected of writing the graffiti,police said in a Facebook post. She told investigators that she had written the message “because she was bored.”

The student was arrested and charged with “written threats to kill, injure or conduct terrorism,” which is a second-degree felony, police said.

“We take every threat to our schools seriously,” Haines City Police Chief Greg Goreck said in a statement. “The safety of our students is vital and we will continue to send the message to everyone that there is no such thing as a harmless prank when it comes to making threats against our children.”

The student’s mother allowed Haines City police to search her home for weapons but none were found, according to investigators.

Superintendent of Polk County Schools Frederick Heid said in a statement that the safety of students and staff members was the district’s top priority.

“We encourage parents to reinforce with their children that they should never make threatening statements,” he said in a statement shared by the Haines City Police Department on Facebook. “We must take any potential threat seriously.”

A spokesman for the Polk County Schools did not respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News.

Shelley S. Boone Middle School serves students in grades 6-8 and with nearly 1,000 students enrolled, according to U.S. News and World Report.