Barron Collier student who wrote hit list removed from school

A Collier County Public School student who wrote a hit list, shooting plan and suicide note has been removed from his school and is under law enforcement supervision, according to a joint statement released by the school district and the Collier County Sheriff’s Office.

Investigators determined the threat was not credible and said last week the case had been closed.

But on Monday a Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman said the investigation is open and that witnesses are still being interviewed.

"The Collier County Sheriff's Office still has open and active investigations relating to the social media posts, statements and threats made recently relating to our schools," the joint statement released Sunday night reads. It offers no details of the threats.

"CCSO takes these investigations very seriously," the statement said. "The students involved in the incidents that are under investigation have been removed from school pending the outcome of the investigations and are under law enforcement observation.”

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In the case of the hit list, a Barron Collier student uploaded the documents to the school's shared drive and posted the 27-name hit list to Snapchat, according to reports from the Sheriff’s Office.

A witness who saw the student write and upload the documents said other students had contributed names to the list and that it was a joke, reports state.

Deputies involved in the case agreed it appeared the documents were “generated as a joke with no intent to commit the acts depicted,” records show.

The Sheriff's Office decided not to arrest the student but issued the author a juvenile civil citation, a pre-arrest diversion program, according to reports. Deputies brought the student to the David Lawrence Center, where doctors cited concerns about the student’s mental health. He was held at the center for at least four days.

Records obtained from the Sheriff’s Office last week state the agency would not be pursuing a criminal investigation. 

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The Sheriff’s Office is also investigating a photo posted to Snapchat that threatens a Collier County school. The photo was brought to the attention of investigators Saturday.

In a Facebook post, the Sheriff’s Office said the threat was not credible.

“Our detectives feel that this specific post is not a threat that will be carried out by the individual that posted this,” the post read.

A Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman said detectives know who posted the photo.

Another threatening photo posted to Snapchat last week led to an arrest in South Carolina. The photo showed a person holding a large gun with the message: “Round 2 of Florida tomorrow.”

The joint statement also said the Sheriff’s Office and school district have been working with other law enforcement agencies to enhance security at all Collier schools.

“All Collier County public schools will have at least one Youth Relations Bureau deputy assigned to it full time and these assignments will be reassessed regularly and incorporated into strategic staffing plans in upcoming budgets,” the statement reads. “In addition, there will be increased law enforcement visibility at all public, private and charter schools as well as on the campus of Florida SouthWestern State College.”

The statement said the enhanced security is in addition to the measures put in place last week in response to the Parkland shooting, where 17 people were killed at the hands of a 19-year-old former student with an AR-15 rifle.

Those measures involved additional deputies stationed at the county's public and private schools. It is not clear exactly how school security will differ from last week.  

A Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman said the office was unable to answer a list of questions sent Monday by the Naples Daily News because the Sheriff's Media Relations Office was closed.

The Daily News also sent a list of questions to the Collier school district about the school-related investigations and updates to campus security, but spokesman Greg Turchetta declined to answer most of the questions and said they should be directed to the Sheriff’s Office.

Turchetta answered one question about why the district is commenting on disciplinary action taken against the Barron Collier student after the district stated last week that doing so would break privacy laws.

“In certain circumstances where safety is concerned, we can speak in generalities,” he wrote.

Schools Superintendent Kamela Patton declined the Daily News’ request Monday for an interview.

The Collier Sheriff’s Office is asking the public to report any activity, including social media posts, that threaten people’s safety. The office is also urging parents to encourage their children to report anything suspicious.

Reports can be made to the Sheriff’s Office at 239-252-9300 or Crime Stoppers at 800-780-8477.

“Also, students should be aware that making threats, even over social media, can result in serious consequences including arrest and we ask that parents have this very important discussion with their kids,” the Sheriff’s Office wrote in a Facebook post.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, a research group that tracks and verifies gun-related incidents, more than 420 children in the U.S. had been killed or injured in gun violence in the first 45 days of 2018.