BOCA RATON, Fla. — Students at Palm Beach State College are breathing a sigh of relief after a fellow student was arrested for making an online threat of a mass shooting.
“It’s horrible that it happens and it’s even scarier to know that it happens somewhere near and dear to your heart like this campus that I love so much,” said student Tyler Rickerds.
Saul Jean, 24, a student at Palm Beach State College, was arrested over online threats to carry out a massacre and then take his own life.
“There are three other schools here not just Palm Beach [State],” said Kayla Barrios. “There is Henderson which is K through 8 and then there is also FAU so that would be a horrendous and terrifying experience if it were to actually happen.”
Palm Beach State College released a statement Sunday saying:
Palm Beach State College takes seriously all threats of violence. The college activated its partnership with the behavioral services division of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, which examines these types of threats. The outcome of this situation proves that this process works.
We are grateful for the quick actions of our campus security staff and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, who acted swiftly to make an arrest. We will continue to be vigilant in our work to keep our campuses safe.
“For whatever reason with social media, they can get on social media and make these comments and think that nobody will find them,” said Tim Enos, advisory board member with the School Safety Advocacy Council.
Enos said unfortunately school shootings and shooting threats have become too common.
“You can’t any longer say ‘kids are kids’ or ‘he doesn’t mean it’,” said Enos. “You have to check every little thing out because we know in the past, 100% of the time, somebody knew prior to the school shooting and didn’t come forward and that’s the number one commonality.”
Enos said communication through strong relationships will help prevent future shootings like in this case.
“It always comes down to the human component,” said Enos. “That somebody who sees it or somebody that gets told that this is going to happen, that they will come forward and tell somebody and that person has the tools to make sure they can prevent it.”
