GN, an 11-year-old Rymfire Elementary student who was apparently being bullied in chats, faces a second-degree felony charge of sending written threats of a shooting after sending the “picture of a gun to a group chat with other students” and the message, “See you at school tomorrow bye,” according to his arrest report.
The weapon was a pellet gun. The boy was summoned to the dean’s office when the school administration learned of the text on Monday, but he went home at dismissal. When he got home, “he appeared upset and had been crying,” according to his mother’s description to a Flagler County Sheriff’s deputy, who went to the P-Section house to investigate.
The boy’s mother and father were not aware of their son’s group chat activities. But the boy’s father was able to unlock the phone and recover deleted messages. The thread contained texts from several children sending profanities and insults to each other. One of the messages insulted GN as “a bitch and should do something about it,” according to the arrest report, and that he should do it at school.
In apparent response, GN texted the image of the rifle-style pellet gun. He also texted something along the lines of “your last day breathing.” Someone made fun of him again, making a reference to a gun. “I can still beat you up without a gun or not,” GN texted, sending yet another image of two BB guns and asking the recipients which of the two he should bring to school. He then said the fight should happen at Ralph Carter Park, next to Rymfire Elementary (which students refer to as Rymfire Park), not at school.
The boy told a deputy that he had sent the texts, but to de-escalate the argument. He said he had no intention of carrying out the threat.
Travis Lee, the Rymfire Elementary principal, issued a letter to parents this morning informing them “ of a concerning situation that has come to our attention.” He said the threat was reported to the Sheriff’s Office through the district’s FortifyFL system, a statewide app enabling faculty, students and parents to inform authorities on suspicious activity.
“I am incredibly grateful to all of our Rymfire families who are active in helping make sure our students are safe and prepared for success each day,” Lee wrote. “I understand that this news may be unsettling. Please know that we are here to support our students and address any concerns you may have. The safety of our Rymfire community is and will always be our top priority.”
Though it remains the State Attorney’s Office’s decision on how to charger the student–as a juvenile or an adult–the office usually files juvenile charges, which are then addressed in family court. Students are typically penalized with probation. Generally, the district removes the student from his, her or their home school, sending them to Rise Up, the alternative school, usually for 45 days.
The new school year started on Aug. 11 for students. On Sept. 4, Flagler Palm Coast High School was temporarily on lockdown after the school received a threat. Scarcely a semester goes by anymore without a few such security incidents. Students are repeatedly schooled by faculty and other authorities to be careful about what they say about weapons, even in jest.
R.S. says
This issue should be settled in a counselor’s office, not with penalties and a court. Kids will echo the society where they grow up. If the adults were to give up guns and confrontational bullying–particularly through social media and emails–such incidents would probably decrease. But since such global change is unlikely to come by any time soon, the worst one can do is to continue the bullying by threats, penalties, and courts.
Jay Tomm says
See THIS IS MENTAL HEALTH! The 11yo doesn’t deserve to be charged with a crime. They need to be helped! Bullying can put stress & thoughts into an 11yo. 100% this was a reaction response to get the bullying to stop. The kid needs help not jail!
Just a thought says
And what about the kids that were bullying this poor kid. There are anti bullying laws in Florida. Why does the school not talk about that?
mary s. arnoff says
What happened to the bully? In my opinion, schools and police should focus equally on those that bully.
Cali says
So the kid that was bullied and made an unacceptable gun threat is being held accountable for his threat. Are the BULLIES being held accountable for bullying?
Layla says
Home school.
Pogo says
SleepTech says
Flagler schools supposedly have a ZERO TOLERANCE for bullying yet just try to get a kid help when it happens. Are we going to hear the Flagler chant of the Bullies weren’t significantly larger than the child, it didn’t occur for a long enough period of time, etc, etc? Until these kids actually see penalties for bullying, they will continue to do it. They don’t have to be larger when there are more of them and I’m not sure what equation you use for size equaling fear. Wake up! This kid’s life could be ruined because the school system claims to have a No Tolerance Bulling Policy when that’s simply not true. This kid never would have resorted to such measures if he didn’t feel trapped. Make an example of these Bullies!
Gina says
Palm Coast with all the development has become a shit hole just like Orlando and Jacksonville.
Take a good look says
WRONG response to this for this poor victim of bullying! And the perp bullies should have to be held accountable for their instigating behaviors and being the catalysts in this entire extremely messed up situation!
Atwp says
The child is arrested, what about the bullies? What is the child’s race? That will probably explain the arrest.
JimboXYZ says
Teach your kids to loop back the bullying to school admin & FCSO, report those threats as crimes. Then any bullying falls on the children doing those threats & their parents. Make that Zero Tolerance Bullying Policy mean something. School Admin & Law Enforcement get their opportunity to do their jobs. If it escalates further, make it perfectly clear that they were given the opportunity to resolve the Bully Crisis to full satisfaction. After that is anyone responsible for the direction it goes when they are in fear of their personal safety. Hold any bully accountable & responsible for the words. Here we are 4 years later, the Indian Trails Middle School bully crisis all over again. You know the woman and her kids beating up the ITMS bullies over at the Indian Trails Sports Complex that made national news headlines. That’s where this was heading ? Not surprising at all that no solutions for a cure. The best way to handle it, get FCSO involved & the School Board. What is at stake are lengthy criminal cases of litigation. Give them their chance, SYG applies. The kid being bullied was out numbered. When the system fails, one hads no other option than to take matters into their own hands. Maybe if a bully is eliminated, the bullies will figure out they are being held accountable & responsible. By all means stay within the laws, but when hat law enforcement proves ineffective the instigators are domestic terrorists & must be dealt with. Trust me, nobody will miss a bully finding an easy mark. I’d have no problem with one less bully on planet earth. I think I’m not the only one, others would chime in & support that concept. I had zero problem with the Mother that held those tormentors as bullies down while her kids beat them up. And then somehow the bullies became the victims ? The bullies became the little b*tches. Boo hoo, a bully got his butt kicked. Anybody shed a tear for that ?
https://flaglerlive.com/indian-trails-assault/
I have no problem with this one either. 8th grader was feeling himself to find a victim (he was joking around for his bully tactics, isn’t that always the case), was outnumbered & got as good as he was giving for others.
“The eighth grade boy, who suffered a fractured nose, bruising, and an eye injury during the altercation, said he joked with Hentz’s son, but denied any physical violence.”
Would love to see that bullies battered face spread virally on-line for the rest of the bullies past, present & future to figure it out that nobody wants them around, creating victims that have to live with that. That’s accountability & responsibility, 8th grader needs to own that ? Being his own worst enemy, got his reward, nobody wants to cheat him out of a single moment of suffering for what he chose to be as the bully. Find it ironic that he perceives himself as a victim. My favorite line was the daughter that told the 8th grader that she was going to handle his malfunction for anything retaliatory & going forward other than the bully being a model citizen for his best bahvior.
All the parent did was ensure the message was delivered & got thru. Guaranteed beat down for a bully. Sometimes that’s the only way to handle a bully & it needs to happen, zero repercussions for correcting what society failed to handle. And beat that bully up every day too, that’ll drive the message home, what they did to another comes back to the point where they understand what they were doing to another. Worst that could happen is what this 11 year old faces ? But maybe School administrators & law enforcement finally become more effective in doing their jobs ? This doesn’t fall on the kids handling it amongst themselves. The bully wins that solution and all it does is create a victim that suffers in silence for a lifetime. There are always going to be mental anguish & scars that the bullies victims internalize.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/mom-charged-after-alleged-school-bus-fight-with-8th-grader-who-bullied-her-son/
Charlotte Jones says
So Rymfire finally wants to do something about threats.I had to pull my son out of there.Because A boy threatened to come to school and stab him.And the only thing i was told When I reported it to the principal was that the student had been off his medicine for a couple of weeks‼️
Sparks says
Yes that’s what they do!!!!
Steve says
Charge the parents of the Bullies and the victims. Make them parent
Sparks says
I volunteered at a Rymfire School for two years second grade. I noticed a lot of unsettling things there. No one ever said thank you. A few children told me they were going to another school because of bulling. I had an exit interview and told my concerns. Also have spoke to numerous school board members about it. They is no consequence for actions except a behavior write up and put in another her class room. Need more strict rules., like suspension for a week., counseling. This is only second grade no wonder when they get to middle school much serious problems. Zero tolerance for Bulling big problem in schools.
Sparks says
I seen bulling everyday I volunteered at Rymfire. They seem to ignore it. Just put the child in another classroom. I spent two years there. Very upsetting. The bullies need to be accountable for their actions and suspended. No one t talk to. We need to do something as parents, grandparents to put a Stop to bulling. Take it to the school board. There was a 5 grader standing outside the door of a second grader wanting to fight her. Nothing Done.Parents need to volunteer, and get involved in there School.
R.S. says
Bullying will remain an issue and a problem in a culture that subscribes to bullying as “good pedagogy.” “Spare the rod, spoil the child” is one of those stupid ways of educating kids to believe that the biggest bully is the good guy who deserves the prize. With every state-sanctioned murder, the state shows to be the biggest bully. With every vengeful doling out of “vindictive justice,” the culture supports bullying. With every war to right wrongs in a less than perfect world, the culture supports bullying. With every bombing diplomacy, the culture supports bullying. With every boat blown up in international waters, the culture supports bullying. With its historic holocaust of 60 to 100 million indigenous people, this culture has been born from bullying. With every open-carry law, this state supports bullying. What is necessary is a fundamental change of philosophy before kids will stop doing what they see all around them enacted every day.