Gateway high schooler accused of threatening to kill teacher

A Gateway High School student has been arrested for allegedly making electronic threats to kill a teacher.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office arrested the teenager on Tuesday after the Gateway High School principal sent an email chain.

According to LCSO, a screenshot of the message created on Instagram was included in the email, stating that the teacher would be killed by gunfire on the first day of school.

The message then continued to mention that if anyone were to report the message, then the entire school would be included in the act of violence.

The LCSO School Threat Enforcement Team began investigating the threat, and it was discovered that the initial recipient of the email received the email from a former student.

The teacher told deputies that the email containing the threat was not discovered until the following morning due to being inundated with student emails concerning scheduling conflicts.

Upon interviewing the former student, it was discovered that roughly six teenagers were participating in a group chat, discussing random topics.

In the chat thread, the former student screenshotted the threatening message, along with the phrase “KILL ME NOW” repeated seven times.

The student expressed concern for the teacher and the student body, which led to the email notifying them.

An exigent request was submitted to Instagram’s parent company, Meta Platforms, where deputies were able to gather the information of the original messenger.

A juvenile has been arrested and charged with intimidation and written/electronic threatening with intent to kill.