The authorities arrested a Florida teenager on Sunday for making threats to carry out a school shooting at a nearby high school.
The arrest report said the suspect, 17-year-old Timothy A. Thomas, was taken into custody after the Sanford Police Department received an anonymous tip about a video Thomas allegedly made in which he made the threats, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
The investigation began on Saturday when Sanford PD received an anonymous tip regarding a video of an unknown male threatening to shoot students at the school, the police department said.
The video, taken from a video-chat website called Uhmegle that pairs random strangers, pictured the subject, later identified as Thomas, with multiple guns, vests and other items of concern. In the video, the subject said he planned to die through suicide-by-cop and said he would carry out the mass shooting during lunch “when there is a big group of people in between classes,” according to the arrest report.
The male stated in the video that he had three magazines for his AK-47, two magazines for his SVD rifle and an extended magazine for his Glock 19, with one magazine for his M4 rifle, the report said.
In the video, the subject said he was affiliated with gangs such as Isis, members of the Bloods street gang and has affiliation with the military.
Investigators brought a clip of the video to Elevation High principal Donald Taunton, who positively identified the subject as Thomas and said he had “numerous personal contacts with him,” according to the report.
Police found no actual firearms after searching the suspect’s room. However, they seized a number of airsoft guns, an airsoft vest, a knife, and a notebook. The weapons were “extremely realistic Airsoft replicas,” the report noted. The authorities arrested Thomas on charges of intimidation/electronic threat of mass shooting/terrorism act, according to the police. The arrest report indicated that Thomas confessed to making the threats.
It is unknown whether the suspect has retained an attorney.
17-year-old Florida student planned to commit a school shooting at Seminole High during lunch. He planned to shoot as many students as possible and then die via "suicide by cop".
— K-12 School Shooting Database (@K12ssdb) March 10, 2025
Posted a video showing 2 semiauto rifles, 3 handguns, 2 other rifles, and ballistic helmet + vest. pic.twitter.com/99mmZGw7rl
A similar story recently occurred in Texas, when the FBI arrested two teenagers who were allegedly plotting “a mass casualty attack at a local school” in Houston. The suspects were two teenage girls who sought to place pipe bombs and shoot students at Memorial High School. The two girls were charged with making a terroristic threat.
Houston: 2 teen girls, ages 15 and 16, were arrested after making online threats for a mass casualty attack on their high school using guns and pipe bombs. Local police coordinated with FBI, arresting the girls within 30 minutes of the report.
— Marina Medvin 🇺🇸 (@MarinaMedvin) February 20, 2025
The authorities did not recover any firearms, bombs, or other materials. However, the matter is still under investigation.