Boy, 14, Threatened Machete Attack: Deputies

ZEPHYRHILLS, FL — A 14-year-old Zephyrhills High School student faces criminal charges after Pasco County Sheriff’s deputies say he threatened to kill two people with a machete.

Deputies say the text messages the boy is accused of sending were saved by the recipient. After the agency was tipped off about the possible threats, deputies were sent to interview the boy. (For more local news from Florida, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Land O’ Lakes Patch, and click here to find your local Florida Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

The boy, who is not being identified by Patch due to his age, told deputies the texts were sent as a joke.

The texts, however, allegedly said the boy was so upset with his girlfriend that he was “gonna bring a machete to school (on Monday) and kill 2 people,” an email from the sheriff’s office said. Deputies say the words added up a written threat to kill or injure.

The teen was booked into the Pasco County Juvenile Assessment Center on Sunday. Deputies say they seized a “large knife” from the boy because it was “sent to the same reportee as a Snapchat video.”

No further information is available at this time.

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