Court date for students arrested for alleged threats against Parrish Community High School and Buffalo Creek Middle School

PARRISH, Fla. (WWSB) - Four students arrested for social media posts law enforcement says was a threat to Parrish High School and Buffalo Creek Middle School, in front of a judge via zoom on Friday morning. The judge saying their initial punishment is 21 days in juvenile detention.

“Right now, based on the limited information available, I think everyone’s doing the best they can,” said Leland Taylor, an attorney for one of the boys. “We would’ve liked to have seen a scenario where this young man could have gone home while this was resolved, but that’s not what the ruling was today.”

Taylor says the boys didn’t make any threats. He says they just posted a TikTok video with a filter that thousands of kids use.

“It’s an orange and purple nerf toy that’s superimposed on the picture, and it shoots out purple nerf dots,” said Taylor. “It does not project any violence, it doesn’t project any blood or guts.”

Many parents and students are upset that law enforcement made these arrests because they say they are going after the wrong people. They say the authorities should be going after the real culprit who called in the threats for several days. Taylor says these students are facing a second degree felony and up to 15 years in prison, but he’s optimistic everything will work out for these kids.

“When this gets evaluated from a large macro scale, all the facts come out, I think there will be an opportunity for a good resolution,” said Taylor.

One of the boys will be back in court on March 2nd. It’s not known when the next court date will be for the other boys.