A 15-year-old First Coast High School student has been arrested and charged with making a hoax bomb threat.
Marquis Battle is accused of making the call to 911 just before 10 a.m. on Dec. 9.
According to the arrest report, Battle said, “I'm going to blow up First Coast High School,” and used the word “destruction.”
Police said that the school was alerted and searched but no device was found.
A teacher told school officials she knew who made the call, pointing them to Battle. She said Battle came into her classroom, asked if he could stay and then talked to her. What Battle said to the teacher was not included in the arrest report, but after the teacher turned him in, Battle was detained and questioned.
Battle initially told police an unknown male borrowed his phone and made a call but then changed his story and said another student used his phone. Battle admitted to talking to the teacher, but said that “she must have misunderstood what he said.”
Battle was arrested, and his cellphone was taken as evidence.
Because of the frequency of these incidents, News4Jax has made an editorial decision not to report on school bomb threats unless law enforcement says there is a credible concern for student safety.
