A 15-year-old former New Smyrna Beach High School student was arrested earlier this week on several felony charges after an investigation into a bomb threat he made on Twitter revealed plans to commit a mass school shooting, deputies said.
The student, whose name is being withheld per News 13's Crime Guidelines, was arrested Monday afternoon and charged with four counts of making threats to discharged a destructive device and one count of making written threats to kill or do harm.
The student admitted that he was planning the bombing and mass shooting. Based on the Volusia County Sheriff's Office's investigation, evidence seized and interviews, deputies believe the threat was credible.
The teenager was taken into custody at the Volusia Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Daytona Beach. Investigators concluded he was acting alone.
The investigation began Sept. 4 when the sheriff's office was alerted to a post on the teen's Twitter account, which said: "One million retweets and I'll blow up the school."
The tweet was deleted less than a minute after it was posted, but it was followed up by a tweet with a closeup picture of what appeared to be an open throat with white spots and the following text: "strep throat, long weekend, suicidal and dangerous thoughts."
Deputies learned a student was in the school nurse's clinic around the time of the tweet and showing signs of strep throat, a news release states.
Deputies tracked the student down in class and questioned him. The teen denied that he was planning any violence and stated he was just posting shocking things on Twitter.
Because of the serious nature of the threats, deputies continued to investigate. The teen was taken into custody Sept. 4 and was expelled from New Smyrna Beach High School.
Deputies seized the teen's phone for a forensic examination and extracted hundreds of pages of text messages, Internet posts and photos.
"The majority of the pages from the cellphone extraction report outlined (the teenager's) obsession with death, mass killings and school shootings (specifically the Columbine shooting)," a Volusia County Sheriff's Office investigator wrote in the arrest affidavit.
The teenger wrote multiple entries about how first responders and schools administrators "always forget the explosives" and illustrated making and setting off pipe bombs in a specific location of the high school. The teen also wrote of studying video from the shootings at Columbine High School and posted several images of himself holding firearms: one was a handgun, another was later determined to be a BB gun.
Deputies searched the teen's home Monday, but they didn't find any bomb-making materials. Investigators, however, believe the teen had the knowledge and capability to obtain the firearms and build the types of explosives he researched.