A week after an 11-year-old Virginia boy was sentenced in county court for making a series of threats that disrupted multiple schools for several days running, a 12-year-old Palm Coast girl was arrested on charges of threatening to kill another child in a dispute over a boy, using SnapChat to convey the threats. No school was involved in the latest incident.
The girl, K.N., an E-Section resident, faces a second-degree felony charge.
According to the girl’s arrest report, a 20-year-old woman reported to Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies on Thursday evening that her younger sister had been the victim of the threats, after having issues with K.N.
The two girls argued over a boy on SnapChat, the social media messenger app that automatically deletes messages after a short period. The argument escalated as K.N. proposed to fight the other girl.
“I will literally fucking kill you if you call the cops,” K.N. is alleged to have messaged the other girl, “bitch I will literally blow your brains out.”
“After the digital threats were sent,” K.N.’s arrest report states, “it was said that the account sent a video of her walking towards the victim’s house and told her to send her address several times.” Though SnapChat deletes messages, users often capture them by taking screen captures.
The threats were disseminated through a group chat, suggesting more posturing than intent. K.N. herself initially told a deputy that she did not have a SnapChat account, though she said her former account had been hacked by an ex-boyfriend. She gave a deputy consent to open her phone, which had a SnapChat app. The account on the phone was active, signed in, and receiving messages. The account matched the one from where the threats had originated.
K.N. denied sending the video or the threats “in spite of the fact the messages sounded consistent [with] her voice, tone, pitch and inflection,” the arrest report states. She was arrested.
Neither child had the means nor the actual desire to carry out the threats, though that doesn’t change how they’re charged and what penalties they may face. The two unrelated cases underscored the continuing challenge officials face with minors making grave threats.
“The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office always takes any threat seriously, no matter how old you are. And if you threaten to kill someone, even if it’s over something as trivial as arguing over a boy, we will arrest you,” Sheriff Rick Staly was quoted as saying in a release.
The case is likely to be tried in juvenile court, ending in probation if K.N. is found guilty.
A week ago, N.M., the 11-year-old boy who phoned in bomb and shooting threats that disrupted the last week of school in Flagler County, especially at Flagler Palm Coast High School, before the summer break, was adjudicated delinquent by County Judge Melissa Distler. The judge ordered him to be held in detention in Volusia County until he can be placed in a high-risk program, which includes counseling, mental health treatment, and continued education.
Upon completing the in-custody program, the boy will be allowed to return to Virginia under conditional supervised release for a yet-to-be-determined amount of time. Among the restrictions is the use of electronics and supervised access to the internet. As part of the sentence, the Court ordered restitution of $46,234 to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office for the cost of the investigation and responses to the schools from his calls.
As disturbing as the young age of the suspects may be, the cases also point to a clear trend: Cases of overt threats involving high school students have decreased, as have such cases overall in Flagler County, suggesting that schools’ and authorities’ messaging has been effective with older students, but has yet to be as effective with younger students.
Leave a Reply