Columbia County Sheriff Mark Hunter said the sheriff’s office, Lake City Police Department and school district diverted an unreal amount of assets to deal with a series of social media threats aimed at local schools.  

The sheriff’s office first began investigating a threat on Sunday afternoon that linked to a Madison County investigation and subsequent arrest. Then on Monday, the sheriff’s office arrested a 17-year-old and 14-year-old within hours of public shooting threats made against the public school system.  

Hunter revealed at a Wednesday press conference that his office investigated a third threat on Tuesday. This threat was sent privately and involved Lake City Christian School.  

The tense situation escalated when a resident near Fort White High School decided to do target shooting on Tuesday. Hunter said law enforcement had a school lockdown and very robust response that ended with a stern discussion.  

Hunter said law enforcement worked in the previous days to increase security at all schools in Columbia County, including private schools that lacked the same measures as the district.  

“I want to reassure the community that we have to come together collectively, and we have to stand by each other, and we have to take care of one another,” Hunter said. 

Hunter said other Florida counties, including Leon, Hillsborough and Jefferson, also faced school threats. He said copycats can pop up after tragedies like the recent Georgia school shooting that left four dead.  

He added that neither of the students arrested on Monday had the means to carry through with their threats, according to the investigation.  

Superintendent Alex Carswell said parents need to speak with and be strong for their children, talking through the issues and giving them confidence to attend school.  

He said Columbia County schools are safe and encouraged parents to convey that message. 

He added that social media is not something the school district or community can control. Parents need to step in and monitor their kid’s social media.  

State Attorney John Durrett said the same. He said parents need to be involved in their kids’ lives.  

He said it’s tough raising teenagers and noted that parents can’t do everything. But Durrett added that he, Hunter and Carswell also can’t do everything.  

To anyone thinking of posting threats, Durrett said it’s not a joke—a reason given by one of the arrested students. The consequences could include up to 15 years in prison.  

Hunter also said the community needs to be careful about spreading unvetted information on social media. He said it adds to the chaos these threats try to make.  

He said it’s a shame that society is in these positions with school threats and asked when the community would work to take it back. Hunter said community members need to back school and law enforcement leaders during meetings throughout the year for things like budget requests.  

“Bad things are going to happen, but we have to have things in place to minimize that and to be able to respond to it,” Hunter said.  

He highlighted law enforcement’s prevention of an incident at a football game last year and said many other successful preventions happen that never get heard about.