Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

'He's Just A Little Boy': Florida Mom Argues With Cops Arresting Her 15-Year-Old Son For Threatening To Shoot Up School

A 15-year-old was recently arrested in Ormond Beach, Florida, after making threats to shoot up his school online.


A video of the arrest, in which his mother tried to argue with officers that her son was just making a joke, has gone viral.

School shooting threat arrest 8/16/19youtu.be

The 15-year-old, known as FalconWarrior920 on Discord, said in an online game of Minecraft:

"I Dalton Barnhart vow to bring my fathers m15 to school and kill 7 people at a minimum."

Dalton Barnhart is not the teen's real name, but a pseudonym used to protect the minor's identity.

A screenshot of FalconWarrior920's statement was later posted to Discord before being sent as an anonymous tip to the FBI.

Buzzfeed

Officers would soon arrive at the teen's house, charging him with making threats to discharge a destructive device (a felony).

The Sheriff's office released a statement on social media saying:

"After the mass violence we've seen in Florida and across the country, law enforcement officers have a responsibility to investigate and charge those who choose to make these types of threatening statements."

As officers arrested the young man, his mother tried to defend him, saying:

"He's just a little kid playing a video game."

She didn't believe her son understood the full meaning of his words.

"It is a joke to them. It's a game."

But one of the arresting officers, Detective Howard, stood steadfast and told the mother:

"And all these kids keep getting arrested. That's why the FBI and the local law enforcement are spending so much time on this, because how do we know he's not going to be the kid from Parkland…that he's not going to be the next kid, the kid that shot up Sandy Hook. We don't know that."

Ultimately, however, it makes little difference whether or not the teen's comments were joking. According to the Volusia County Sheriff's Office, "jokes or not, these types of comments are felonies under the law."

Howard would reiterate this sentiment during the arrest:

"So if I get on there and say 'I pledge ISIS and I'm going to blow everybody up,' that's the same charge as 'you know what man, I'm fed up and I'm going to school tomorrow and shoot up my school.'"

A spokesperson from the Volusia County Sheriff's Office confirmed to Buzzfeed that the teen's family did own a gun, though the weapon was not a M15.

The mother claimed her son did not have access to the gun, though authorities could not confirm whether or not this was true, saying:

"So he has hands and feet. He can grab your gun and go do something."

The mother responded:

"He would never do anything like that."

But the officers were unswayed.

"We don't know that."


The teen would later admit to authorities he had written the message, but continued to insist it was made as a joke. Officers are frustrated by the frequency of such threats, often made jokingly online where young people feel relatively anonymous.

Twitter was disappointed by the state of our country, where the constant threat of gun violence has pushed us to react in ways like this.




The other arresting officer, Werfel, told the teen's mother:

"This is the world we're in where kids are getting shot at school while they're trying to learn. And unfortunately we can't take risks and we can't say 'alright, we trust that this guy is not going to do it' and then it happens and then we say 'well, we had the chance to stop it.'"

Sadly some people do see the humor in joking about mass murder. The documentary 13 Families available here, tells the story of 13 families of victims from the Columbine school shooting in 1999.

********

Listen to the first episode of George Takei's podcast, 'Oh Myyy Pod!', where we explore the racially charged videos that have taken the internet by storm.

Be sure to subscribe here and never miss an episode.

More from Trending

Sarah Jessica Parker
Marc Piasecki/WireImage

Sarah Jessica Parker Claps Back At Conservative Critics Who Want Her To 'Shut Up' About Politics And 'Act'

Nothing seems to get conservatives' goats quite like celebrities having political opinions—well, liberal and leftist celebrities, anyway.

They seem to love it when weird right-wing celebs like Kevin Sorbo get on the internet and say bizarre, usually counterfactual nonsense, or when JK Rowling does her darnedest to make her legacy not about Harry Potter but about her weird obsession with trans people.

Keep ReadingShow less
Ann Coulter
Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic

Ann Coulter Faces Fierce Backlash After Saying 'We Didn't Kill Enough Indians' In Deleted Post

Far-right provocateur Ann Coulter is facing fierce criticism after she made a genocidal remark in a now-deleted post on X in response to University of Minnesota professor and Navajo Nation member Melanie Yazzie's speech about colonization.

Yazzie, in a speech at last year's annual Socialism Conference, said "decolonization is the only thing that is going to save us as a species" during a panel hosted by Red Nation, a Native American nonprofit that advocates for Palestinian and Native American rights. She also said that the United States is the "greatest predator empire that has ever existed" and said it should be dismantled.

Keep ReadingShow less
James Gunn
Matt Winkelmeyer/WireImage

James Gunn Bluntly Fires Back At 'Jerks' Who Criticize Superman's Pro-Immigrant Themes

Superman director James Gunn issued a response to the "jerks" who criticize the political themes inherent to the superhero's story, expressing his hope that seeing the movie will "make people a little nicer."

Speaking with The Times of London, Gunn stressed that the story of Superman is more relevant than ever considering the ongoing political turmoil in the United States largely centered around the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.

Keep ReadingShow less

Things People Do In Relationships That Seem Sweet But Are Actually Toxic

Content Warning: Controlling and Toxic Relationship Behaviors

We've all either been involved in or witnessed a relationship where we saw something that we thought was cute or sweet at first, but we eventually found the behavior to be troubling or "too much."

Keep ReadingShow less
A piggy bank surrounded by loose change.
coin bank

'Poor Person Habits' People Won't Give Up No Matter How Rich They Get

When money is tight, we look for every possible way to avoid spending it.

As much as we might find ourselves missing out on some of the nicer things life has to offer, we find ourselves contented by the fact that we will always have enough money in our bank accounts to pay our bills on time.

Keep ReadingShow less