California Teens Unravel Florida High School Threat
ROCKLIN(CBS13) - A pair of Whitney High School students reported a threat they saw on the internet and it may have stopped a school shooting in Florida.
"Who alerted authorities? Well, it was someone from California," read the news anchor on their school's local broadcast.
Seniors Buster Carlson and Jacob Halley, who are being hailed as heroes, hit the airways at Whitney High Friday morning.
Their very own school's WCTV19 breaking the news.
"My whole class gave me a round of applause," Buster said.
The teens went online after the deadly shooting in the Bay Area last week at YouTube.
They were specifically scrolling for comments on the song, "Pumped up kicks."
"It's about a demented kid that fantasizes about shooting up a school," Buster said.
That's when they saw this.
"It literally quoted Nicholas Cruz, I want to become a professional school shooter," Jacob said.
The school is just five miles away from the Parkland campus where a deadly massacre took place in 'Februarys deadly school massacre.
"It was serious enough for us to report," Jacob said.
"Right away when I saw it I knew it was serious," Buster added. "You don't post that and I actually mean it. It was a direct threat and had to be taken care of."
Buster called Florida Police and Jacob contacted the FBI.
"We didn't hear anything about it until the reports came out that they arrested the kid," Jacob said.
It was featured on every major news outlet in Florida.
"A Coral Spring high school student under arrest after allegedly threatening to shoot up his school in a posting on YouTube," said a CBS news anchor.
The seniors were blown away.
"All the article said was a tip from California and we knew it was us. It had to be because it was such a hard thing to find on the Internet." Jacob said.
Police arrested the teen and said firearms were found locked up in his father's home.
"You know the way to stop these needs to stop them beforehand, not everybody gets that opportunity, so I'm glad we did," Buster said.
And their parents say the boys did this on their own.
"Pretty proud I have to admit. Pretty proud," Buster's dad said.
"Very excited. I think it's well deserved for both of them," Jacob's mom added.
The high school seniors aren't even looking for praise, just doing what is right.
"This is probably the biggest thing that I've done in my life," Buster said.
"Same here," Jacob added.
A Florida teen remains in custody charged with making threats against a school, a second-degree felony.
