Fortify Florida<\/a>, a suspicious activity reporting app. The threat was posted Thursday night, prompting immediate investigation and communication with parents.<\/p>\n\u201cWhen I read it, it did not feel like it was a joke. It definitely seemed like a very serious threat,\u201d said one Mandarin High School parent, who requested anonymity and kept their child home from school Friday.<\/p>\n
School principal Sara Bravo notified parents of the situation via phone calls late Thursday night and followed up with an email about the ongoing investigation. By 6 a.m. Tuesday, parents were informed of the suspect\u2019s arrest.<\/p>\n
Good morning Mandarin families, This is Principal Bravo I apologize for needing to call at this hour, but I wanted update you on the threat we received through Fortify Florida last evening. The threat was to carry out a shooting on our campus.\u00a0Through the outstanding work of our school police department, the originator of the post has been located and arrested.\u00a0There is no longer a threat to the school. We will still have a police presence to ensure our students, faculty and staff can put their mind at ease but again there is no threat to the school and all other school procedures will operate as normal.\u00a0Again, I apologize for the hour of this message but I wanted to provide you with this update and I look forward to seeing our Mustangs as we make it a great Friday.\u00a0Thank you to all those who have reported this threat via Fortify Florida. Have a Good Friday.<\/p>\n
Principal Bravo<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy everything [was handled] under Principal Bravo. I am very, very happy,\u201d said James, another Mandarin High School parent.<\/p>\n
The incident at Mandarin High School was one of three school safety concerns reported across Northeast Florida on Thursday:<\/p>\n
The Fortify Florida app, launched in 2018 following the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, has led to multiple school threat arrests across the state despite some instances of false reporting.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes me sad that they\u2019re thinking they can get away with this. Anything that they do online can be tracked,\u201d James added.<\/p>\n
News4JAX reached out to the Duval County School District to learn more about what happened and the student involved. <\/p>\n
Some parents remain concerned about sending their children back to school. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was actually very petrified and scared to even send her to school,\u201d the anonymous parent said, adding they were still undecided about their child\u2019s return next week.<\/p>\n
Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters released a statement condemning the incident.<\/p>\n
We take school threats very seriously. Protecting children, teachers, and staff is a top priority. We work constantly with our partner agencies, including the Duval County Public Schools Police Department, to ensure we stay ahead of any potential threats.<\/p>\n
JSO has detectives assigned specifically to investigate threats made against schools and to act swiftly when those threats arise. If you make a threat against a school, you will be arrested and charged accordingly. These school-threat arrests whether led by DCPS Police or JSO, demonstrate our zero-tolerance stance.<\/p>\n
\u201cSee something, say something\u201d is not just a phrase; we urge the public to report suspicious activity. In some cases, we receive hundreds of tips, which showcases the strong partnership we have with the community to keep everyone safe.<\/p>\n
Sheriff T.K. Waters<\/p>\n
DCPS asked for parents to talk with their children about the incident to prevent this from happening again. The message reads in part:<\/p>\n
We take no pleasure in seeing any student arrested. However, we will take every necessary step to ensure all students and staff are safe, and feel safe, in our schools. <\/p>\n
Families \u2013 We need your support. That is why we\u2019re sharing this message with our entire school community. <\/p>\n
There is zero tolerance for threats. A threat \u2013 whether it\u2019s verbal, on a bathroom wall, or posted on social media \u2013 is never dismissed as a prank, joke, or poor decision. If a threat violates the law, we will seek to find and arrest the person responsible. <\/p>\n
Talk with your children. Talk with them today. Share news of this arrest and have a serious conversation about the dire, life-changing consequences that will result from making threats. That includes possible suspension, expulsion, and criminal charges. It will impact their future. <\/p>\n
Continue to practice \u201cSee Something, Say Something.\u201d Report threatening speech or activity to law enforcement, either directly or through the FortifyFl mobile app. If you haven\u2019t done so already, please take this opportunity to download this threat reporting app to your cellphone. <\/p>\n
Thank you for your continued support in keeping our schools safe for all students and staff.<\/p>\n
Duval County Public Schools<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A Mandarin High School student was arrested Friday morning after posting an online threat showing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1040,1038,116,118,117,70949],"class_list":{"0":"post-146614","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-dcps","9":"tag-duval-county-public-schools","10":"tag-jacksonville","11":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","12":"tag-jacksonville-news","13":"tag-mandarin-high-school"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}