TITUSVILLE, Fla. – Two teenage boys are accused of leaving notes threatening a mass shooting at Andrew Jackson Middle School, according to the Titusville Police Department.
The investigation began Feb. 21 when a student handed an administrator a note found in the bathroom, which prompted a lockdown at the school.
"These students had written notes, signed their names on them and had them delivered to the administration and basically saying that they were going to carry out a school shooting," Brevard Public Schools assistant superintendent Matt Reed said.
Police said they went to the 500 wing boys' bathroom and found two notes. Each note appeared to be written by a different student and said that the student was "going to shoot up Andrew Jackson Middle." There was also a map of the school with each wing labeled a number one through six, in addition to a drawing on the mirror of a rectangle with "AJMS" written inside and the word "kaboom" written over it, according to the affidavit.
"It's in black and white there," Reed said. "That's a threat. We take every one of these as seriously as if it could be the next Parkland."
The 13-year-old and 14-year-old boys who were named in the notes were not on campus when the lockdown was put in place, but they were found at a home less than a mile away, the report said.
The 13-year-old boy told police that he and his friend left the notes in the bathroom. He said the numbers of the wings of the school corresponded with the order in which they planned to shoot the people inside, according to the affidavit.
The teen said he intended to make people who had bullied or mistreated him afraid and said there was a teacher who had upset him in the building he wanted to shoot first, police said. The boy said he didn't have a gun but knew where to get one.
The 14-year-old student said the plan was the other boy's doing, although he did admit to writing the note and leaving the school with the other boy once the lockdown was put in place, according to the affidavit. That boy said he didn't have a gun and would not know where to get one.
One parent said he was happy to hear police got to the school almost immediately, according to the district.
"I remember my stepdaughter coming home kind of freaked out a little bit," Anthony David said. "It's just sad that kids are getting to that point but kind of relieving a little bit that police still take it as serious as they do."
Both boys are facing charges of written threats to kill and disruption of a school function.