A Florida sheriff has taken the unusual step of releasing the mugshot and identity of a 10-year-old boy who was arrested for making a school shooting threat.
Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno defended releasing the boy’s identity by saying that “a child pulling a trigger equals the same aftermath.”
Daniel Issac Marquez, 10, was arrested and perp walked on Saturday after sending text messages claiming that he obtained weapons and would shoot up Patriot Elementary School in Cape Coral.
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The child had sent his friend a text with a Googled image of cash, saying “I scammed my friend.”
“I bought this,” he continued, with an image of four rifles.
Marquez added, “Get ready for water day,” referring to a school event where kids play in sprinkles and enjoy other outdoor water activities.
“He described wads of cash and ‘get ready’ to commit a mass shooting,” Marceno said during an interview on W radio Monday, according to a report from the Daily Mail. “We don’t wait one second. We investigate every threat as if it’s real.”
“Every single threat is real. Every threat is real until you prove not,” the sheriff said.
“I did a campaign. Fake threat, real consequence. While I understand the boy is 10 years old. His brain’s not fully developed, he’s a juvenile, I have to tell you. When a 10-year-old presses a trigger, the aftermath is the same regardless of the age,” the sheriff said of his decision to publicize the crime.
The sheriff also warned that school shooters will be met with deadly force.
“You don’t get to come into one of my schools in my county and present deadly force. Because we meet deadly force with delay force, without one second, without hesitation,” he said. “If you think you’re going to come and kill a child or a faculty member, think again. We will kill you immediately.”