12-Year-old Florida Boy Accused of Bringing Slingshot, Rocks, Knives to School

A 12-year-old student at a South Florida middle school allegedly brought a slingshot, several knives and two rocks onto school property, according to police.

The boy did not threaten anyone or brandish the weapons, but he was arrested Thursday after the resource officer at Walter C. Young Middle School heard rumors of the weapons and discovered them in his backpack.

The student was transported to a juvenile assessment center after his arrest, Pembroke Pines police said in a news release. He faces felony charges of possessing weapons on a school property.

Police urged parents in the release to take the student's arrest as an opportunity to initiate a conversation with their kids.

"Parents, please take this moment to speak with your children about the severe consequences of bringing weapons of any kind onto school property," the release said. "These are serious charges and may result in an arrest, regardless of the age of the suspect."

The arrest came after the deadly shooting at a Michigan's Oxford High School on November 30, and coincides with a steep rise in threats against other schools across the country.

In Michigan alone this week, several students as young as 9 were taken into custody at juvenile detention facilities in the southeastern part of the state after allegedly threatening violence against their schools and classmates, the Detroit Free Press reported.

In a news release detailing a handful of separate incidents that led to the detainments, Waterford Police Chief Scott Underwood warned students against making threats of violence.

"Students who think this [is] a way to be funny, or gain some kind of recognition from their classmates, are making a very big mistake [and] it is imperative that parents have a serious conversation with their children," Underwood said in the release, according to the Free Press.

Last week, a 17-year-old student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was arrested on one count of writing threats to conduct a mass shooting after making a threat against the school in a group text, police said. The Parkland, Florida, school was the site of a mass shooting that killed 17 on Valentine's Day in 2018.

On Tuesday, a student was arrested in connection with threats made at Miami Lakes-Hialeah Senior High School. On Monday, two other student were arrested after police said they made threats at other schools in Miami-Dade County.

And in central Florida on Thursday, a 15-year-old student was arrested after threatening a mass shooting at Lyman High School in Longwood, police said. Messages listing Friday's date and threatening a shooting were found on multiple bathroom walls, an arrest affidavit said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.