Social media threat keeps some students away from Fort Lauderdale High School
FORT LAUDERDALE - A social media threat kept some Fort Lauderdale High School students away on Monday. Others, like Shamya Flores almost did not go.
The Fort Lauderdale high school junior said she was worried after hearing about the threat naming her school and nine other Broward public schools Saturday.
"There's a possibility they are threatening the school and could shoot it up," she said.
That fear was also very real for her mother, who came to school early Monday afternoon to pick her up.
"It was hard to get her to school. She was crying. Her dad had to talk to her to let her know it was okay."
But it wasn't okay for a lot of classmates.
Fort Lauderdale High School administrators said many students stayed home Monday because of the threat. Even though, the 14-year-old girl who made the threats told detectives, it was a joke.
She was arrested Saturday and a magistrate judge Sunday ordered her held in juvenile detention.
Broward Schools Superintendent Dr. Howard Hepburn Monday urged parents to warn their kids about the consequences of making threats, which are felony charges.
"I'm calling on you to have these conversations with you kids. It can lead to arrest and expulsion," he said.
The superintendent said parents and students reported the threat on the Fortify Florida app.
Flores said even though nothing happened Monday, she and her classmates are getting schooled on the real world.
"There's consequences. You will be punished quick and easy."