PORT ST. LUCIE — A Southport Middle School student who allegedly made a bomb threat against the school on TikTok was arrested by Port St. Lucie Police on Oct. 19, according to Port St. Lucie Police reports.
Port St. Lucie officers responded to several calls from parents regarding an online video about a bomb threat to Southport which was circulatings on TikTok. according to police reports.
One of the complainants were able to provide a screenshot of the video
that had white lettering that read, “On Monday The 20th Southport middle Is getting bombed by
me Stay home alright,” according to police reports.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the TikTok account which posted the video was in the name of “Benjamin Franklyn” and had an IP address registered through Comcast, according to police reports. Detectives were also able to determine the type of phone used to create the account and the date and time the account was created, according to police reports.
The investigation led detectives to a Port St. Lucie home where they identified a 14-year-old boy as the juvenile who created the account with his iPhone and posted the TikTok video of the threat. The teenager claimed that the threat was meant as a prank and investigators did not find any proof that the juvenile had any bomb making materials, according to police reports.
As part of the investigation, officers also notified school security of the specific threats.
The suspect, who was taken into custody at 5:30 p.m., within five hours of police being notified of the school threat, was charged with one count electronic threats to kill, do bodily injury, or conduct an act of terrorism. He was later transported to the Department of Juvenile Justice.