Florida mother angry over rezoning threatens to shoot up school, deputies say

LAKE WORTH, Fla. — A South Florida mother, who was upset about her children being rezoned to another school, threatened to shoot up the new school just as the academic year began, investigators said.

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Miranda Perez, 28, of Lake Worth, was arrested Sunday on an intimidation charge for threatening a mass shooting, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.

Local news outlets reported that a friend called authorities after video chatting with Perez on Sunday morning. He told deputies Perez was upset over the rezoning to relieve overcrowding at their old school. She mentioned wanting to "friend" Zachary Cruz on Facebook because "she likes violent things."

According to an arrest report from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, shortly after the video chat ended, Perez wrote on Facebook Messenger, "I'm thinking of doing a school shooting at Barton."

Barton Elementary School is located in Lake Worth, WPTV reported. That is the school where Perez's children are being moved to, the television station reported.

According to the arrest report, detectives said Perez admitted to sending the messages and said, "she did think about shooting the school, but claimed she would never actually do it."

"This is a great example of the importance of bringing forward information about things you see on social media," Palm Beach County School District Police Chief Frank Kitzerow told WPTV.

Reports said Perez also spoke of Zachary’s older brother, Nikolas Cruz, who is accused of a 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Perez remains in the Palm Beach County Jail without bail.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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