Florida fifth grader arrested, charged with threatening a mass taking pictures, police say

A fifth grade pupil in Florida was arrested over the weekend and charged with sending a text message threatening to hold out a mass taking pictures, authorities stated.

In an announcement Saturday, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office said it had learned earlier that day of a "threatening textual content message" sent by a student at an elementary school.

It said its local faculty threat enforcement group was instantly notified and started investigating. The ten-year-old boy was interviewed and charged later with "making a written threat to conduct a mass taking pictures," the sheriff's workplace stated.

In video shared by authorities, the boy can be seen being led into a police car.

“This scholar’s behavior is sickening, particularly after the recent tragedy in Uvalde, Texas,” Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno mentioned in a press release, noting that the menace came just days after the deadly college capturing at Robb Elementary Faculty left 19 college students and two academics lifeless.

“Proper now is just not the time to act like slightly delinquent. It’s not funny,” he said. “This baby made a fake threat, and now he’s experiencing real penalties.”

Marceno mentioned his workforce “didn’t hesitate one second...NOT ONE SECOND,” to research the incident.

The comment got here as authorities in Uvalde face mounting criticism over their response to the Could 24 college shooting after it came to light that they waited roughly an hour for backup instead of instantly shifting in on the gunman.

Chantal Da Silva is a breaking information editor for NBC News Digital primarily based in London.