On December 6, two students, 15-year-old Jonathan Grisales and 16-year-old Tanevcia Ashely were arrested due to false threats against two schools in Miami-Dade County and they will both be charged on felony grounds.
Grisales was the first to instigate these threats on Instagram and soon after, two copycat messages were posted targeting other high schools. Grisales will be charged with written threats to kill or do bodily harm. He appeared in court on the 6th, it has been ruled that the charges against him will remain.
According to the police, the message posted by Jonathan reads “I am going to kill everyone at Miami Senior High School, do not go to school if you want, if you don’t want to die on December 6th, everyone is going to see the anger inside of me.”
After Johnathan Grisales was arrested, Tanevica Ashely McElliott was also arrested for a similar message directed at Miami Northwestern Senior High. “Don’t go to school tomorrow. I will blow up Miami Northwestern Senior High School and you will be the first to die,” Tanevica posed.
Many parents have spent the last few weeks worrying about their child’s safety. These two threats specifically have affected members of the MLEC staff. Yordaank Mezawi, head of the Cambridge Department feared for her child’s safety when one of these threats were made towards her child’s school.
“As a parent, I think I was alarmed and defenseless. I personally called my son’s school to let them know, they brushed it off and tried to reassure me that the school was on it.” stated Mezawi
“Even though I had just left the school at 6:15 in the morning there was no police presence at the school. There was no specific protocol that day to control the students coming in or out…The fact that these two teenagers in Miami-Dade County thought that this was funny in any shape or form is despicable but it speaks to culture. ” Mezawi added.
In addition to those two cases, there was a third case where Keith Bernard Clayton, a seventeen-year-old student, threatened to blow up Hialeah Miami Lakes Senior High.
These threats have had a huge impact on the community and have become an increasingly popular trend. Schools are being shut down and students are being pulled from schools for their safety. MDC schools urge parents to guide their children and will increase protection for the schools that received threats.
“… There will continue to be additional police presence at several different schools. The investigation is ongoing. We urge parents to speak to their children about how reckless actions could result in severe consequences, including criminal charges and a recommendation for expulsion.”
