PARKLAND, Fla. (WFLA) – Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School was locked down Monday after police called a woman to report information about possible threats on social media.
But investigators later said they learned that no threatening posts had been created for the school and that 21-year-old Gesmaldo Lamare seemed to have created them.
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Lamarre was arrested on Monday on charges of using 911 to report false information and obstructing the school’s management functions, Broward Jail records show.
According to NBC 6 South Florida, LaMare called Coral Springs police earlier that morning to report the man threatened to “shoot” the school on Snapchat. However, when investigators found the man, he said he had known Lamare since high school and never made a post of that nature.
The school was placed in a safe position as a precaution while Broward County Councillors investigated. The authorities later made everything clear and the school’s operations returned to normal.
“You have to take all the threats seriously,” Debbie Hixon, a school board member whose husband was killed in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, told NBC 6.
Last month, it marked seven years since the gunman fired at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School, killing 17 people and injuring 18 people. It was one of the deadliest mass shootings in high school in American history.
Lamare was booked to prison and later appeared before Judge Broward for a bond hearing. At one point, she interrupted the judge and stated that she was sorry and “diagnosed as mentally ill,” NBC 6 reported.
She was recognized for a $650 bond and was told not to use social media. The judge also ordered her to undergo a mental health assessment.