A physical altercation on Valencia College’s East campus resulted in a threat from a student, who promised to shoot up the school.
By Jacob Engels
On the final day of February, and just two weeks after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas school massacre that left 17 dead, Central Florida’s Valencia College could have been the next big school shooting.
According to our sources and confirmed by a public records request, a student at one of the nation’s largest state colleges vowed to shoot his professor and “shoot up the school.”
A police report obtained by the Central Florida Post details the events that lead up to the chilling threat against a Valencia professor and the student population. Around 1:30pm, an Orange County deputy working on Valencia’s east campus, responded to a call and subsequently interviewed a Valencia student.
The student said that during a General Psychics and Calculus class, their teacher began high-fiving students after the completion of a scheduled quiz. When the professor approached a certain male student, he refused the high-five and was playfully patted on the side of the face by the professor.
As a result, the Hispanic male student stated that the interaction was “not called for” and then began talking about a gun. At that moment, he yelled out that he would come back to shoot the professor and launch an attack on the entire campus.
**VIEW THE REPORT**
POLICE REPORT: Thwarted Valencia Shooting by Jacob Engels on Scribd
The student gave the statement nearly an hour after the class and the report states that the Orange County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the incident with the Valencia professor before proceeding further with their investigation.
Unlike the lack of response we saw from federal, state, and local authorities leading up to the Parkland shooting, local authorities under the direction of Jerry Demings acted quickly to neutralize the threat.
Around six hours after the student threatened to return to campus to “shoot it up”, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office decided there was enough evidence to Baker Act the would be school shooter before any damage was done.
No new gun laws were needed, just good ole fast acting enforcement of laws already on the books to keep our community safe. Instead of dropping the ball dozens of times and having to face a mass shooting of innocent college students and staff, laws were followed and enforced.
NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer highlighted the role of effective law enforcement and immediate action from the student who filed the report. Hammer was the first female President of the National Rifle Association from 1995-1998.
“When good people do their jobs, a potential crisis can be averted.”
Short and sweet, Hammer hits home an important point. When we make sure that government works efficiently and effectively, rarely do we need new laws or expanded regulations.
Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings, a Democrat running for Mayor of Orange County, also proved that law enforcement could be trusted to handle these threats without infringing upon the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.
Law enforcement officials and Valencia College should be praised for acting decisively to stop another mass shooting. However, more should be done to make sure that people who make credible and verifiable threats like this are properly evaluated in the months following an incident.
We will update you on this story as more information becomes available.
Jacob Engels is an Orlando based journalist whose work has been featured and republished in news outlets around the globe including Politico, InfoWars, MSNBC, Orlando Sentinel, New York Times, Daily Mail UK, Associated Press, People Magazine, ABC, Fox News, and Australia’s New Dawn Magazine. Mr. Engels focuses on stories that other news outlets neglect or willingly hide to curry favor among the political and business special interests in the state of Florida.
