Florida authorities arrested a 9-year-old male last Thursday after they say he brought a knife into his elementary school the day before and threatened classmates with it.
The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office said during one incident the suspect got into a fight with a victim during recess at Middleton-Burney Elementary School in Crescent City, and the victim told deputies the suspect said he was going to stab him and pulled a pocketknife from his backpack. The victim told deputies he ran and told a teacher.
‘We have not had any repeat offenders since we have put this in place.’
Another victim told deputies that the suspect tapped him on the shoulder on the playground, and when the victim turned around, the suspect had an open knife in his hand. The victim told deputies he ran away out of fear and tripped, after which the suspect stopped chasing him and walked away.
Another student told deputies the suspect walked over to her and showed her a knife and asked her not to tell teachers; she added that the suspect walked over to another child and “flicked open the knife” and pointed it at the child’s stomach. Authorities said that child was unable to be identified.
In the end, the sheriff’s office said deputies arrested the 9-year-old suspect and took him to the Putnam County Jail. He was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill, officials said, adding that he was booked and then released to a parent until his court date.
However, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office is getting backlash for posting the suspect’s mug shot on Facebook. The sheriff’s office also named the young arrestee in the post.
About 48,000 comments have followed as of Thursday morning. Here’s what some opponents of the mug shot posting have had to say:
- “I don’t agree with this at all,” one commenter said. “While I absolutely do not support his behavior or bringing a weapon to school, this is still a 9-year-old child. Arresting him, taking a mugshot, and publicly posting it like this can cause lasting psychological harm. At this age, the focus should be on intervention, counseling, and protection, not criminalizing him in a way that could follow him for life. There should be statutes in place to protect children this young, this feels more like trauma and child abuse than justice.”
- “Posting a 9 YEAR OLD’S mugshot?!” another commenter exclaimed.
- “Yeah. I’m all about shaming criminals. But that’s a little far,” another commenter noted. “He’s still a baby and needs guidance not [shame]. That will only reinforce forms of hate and mistrust. Post his parents and get him help and positive encouragement.”
- “Since when does law enforcement [show] pictures of a 9 yr. old child and [give] their name?” another commenter wondered. “What the child did I’m not condoning, but still he’s a very young child.”
But the sheriff’s office, for now, is not budging. In fact, it told WTSP-TV that the decision to post the child’s mug shot is a policy the agency has upheld since 2018, and it won’t remove the post.
“We have not had any repeat offenders since we have put this in place,” Allison Merritt with the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office added to the station.
In fact, just a week earlier, the sheriff’s office posted a 10-year-old male’s mug shot for the same charge and circumstance. Officials said this child brought a pocketknife to school and threatened another student.
WTSP said state law doesn’t protect the confidentiality of juveniles charged with felonies, and their names, photos, and arrest reports legally can be released.
But the station added that the statute allows families to request that photos be taken down from websites — and if they’re not removed within 10 days, the posters can face civil penalties.
“Just because we can post a mug shot of a 9-year-old doesn’t mean we should,” attorney Shannon Schott, a legal expert in juvenile law, told WTSP.
Schott added to the station that posting a child’s mug shot online can have lasting consequences, including an impact on the child’s mental health, future schooling, and chances at rehabilitation.
“The juvenile justice system really is intended to keep things behind closed doors so a family can privately heal and move forward and help their child move forward,” she told WTSP. “It’s really just a conflict between the way the sheriff thinks that things should be done and how the system actually works.”
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