CRESCENT CITY — A 9-year-old boy was arrested after authorities said he brought a knife to his northern Florida elementary school and threatened multiple classmates at recess.
The Middleton-Burney Elementary student was booked in jail on Oct. 9 on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill, according to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office.
In a statement to McClatchy News on Oct. 10, Putnam County School District Superintendent Rick Surrency said “it is very sad that a child that age would bring a weapon to school and we do not tolerate any violence at all in our schools.”
“We are thankful that no one was injured and we hope that parents will continue to monitor what their children bring to school,” Surrency added.
The boy is accused of bringing a knife to school on October 8, when he got into a fight with one of the children during recess, the sheriff’s office said in an October 10 news release.
The child told deputies that the boy threatened to stab him and “pulled a pocketknife from his backpack,” according to authorities.
The child then ran off and alerted a teacher, according to the sheriff’s office.
Another child told deputies that on the playground, the boy “tapped him on the back” while holding “an open knife,” the sheriff’s office said.
The child ran away from the boy, who is accused of chasing him with the knife.
The boy stopped the chase after the child tripped, the other boy told deputies, according to the sheriff’s office.
A girl also reported to deputies that the boy had shown her a knife on October 8 and “asked her not to tell the teachers,” authorities said.
The girl then saw the boy approach a different child and flick “open the knife,” then point it at their stomach, according to the sheriff’s office.
Surrency told McClatchy News that the boy was arrested later in the day at his home.
After he was booked in jail, the sheriff’s office said he was released to his parent ahead of a scheduled court date.
The sheriff’s office advises parents to check children’s backpacks and encourages children to speak up to their teachers.
“Several students reported seeing the knives throughout the day, but no one told a teacher until after the threats occurred at recess,” the sheriff’s office said. “If the knives had been found and removed by an adult prior to the threats, the school could have handled discipline and this would not have escalated to a felony arrest.”
Putnam County is about a 75-mile drive southwest from Jacksonville.