Lake Worth Beach (WPTV)—A Florida mother is accused of threatening to carry out a shooting at an elementary school because her children were being moved there. Her children were among 400 Lake Worth students who were rezoned to a new elementary school to relieve overcrowding at two other schools in the area.
According to an arrest report, Palm Beach County resident Miranda Perez, 28, was communicating with a friend on Facebook Messenger around 8 a.m. on Aug. 11.
During a video chat, Perez told her friend “she was going to Facebook friend Zachary Cruz because she likes ‘violent things,'” her arrest report stated.
Zachary Cruz is the brother of Nikolas Cruz, the 20-year-old accused of carrying out a deadly mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland on Feb. 14, 2018.
Perez also made comments about Nikolas Cruz during her video chat, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said.
According to the arrest report, shortly after the video chat ended, Perez wrote on Facebook Messenger: “I’m thinking of doing a school shooting at Barton.”
Barton was referring to Barton Elementary School, located at 1700 Barton Road in Lake Worth Beach, which is the school Perez’s children were being moved to.
According to the sheriff’s office, Perez later said in the Facebook Messenger chat: “Yep. It’s there [sic] fault,” referring to the school.
Detectives said when they interviewed Perez, she admitted to sending the messages and told them “she did think about shooting the school, but claimed she would never actually do it.”
“This is a great example of the importance of bringing forward information about things you see on social media,” said Palm Beach County School District Police Chief Frank Kitzerow.
Perez was arrested and booked into the Palm Beach County jail on a charge of sending a written threat to commit bodily injury. She’s being held on $5,000 bond.
“One thing I tell parents regularly is trust your instincts,” said Chief Kitzerow. “Don’t take a chance.”
