Video posted on Snapchat and later widely shared on social media platforms in early August shows the shotgun-toting teenager standing in a private residence while talking to the filmer about his intentions.
“You walk in that s**t. Boom! N****r dead,” the teen is heard saying. “F**king KKK this s**t, bro. You f**king p***y ass n****rs with your sorry ass glocks and s**t. I’ll shoot anywhere in this damn house, and I’ll hit you with this one.”
“I swear to f**king god … once you hear that little clip right here, you better f**king run. You’re pretty f**king good at it from running from the damn cops. Now this here is used for ducks. Some ducks are black. I’m killing n****rs either way, you f**king feel me? You f**king p***ies,” he continues.
The video cuts off with the Bay County teen making his way out of a room while continuing his racial slur-riddled rant. “F**k this s**t. I’m out bruh,” he says.
Despite the clear racially-charged threats of murder, neither the Bay County Sheriff’s Office nor Glenn Hess, the state attorney for the Sunshine State’s 14th Judicial Circuit, have issued charges in the matter.
“In spite of the deeply offensive comments made by the teenager, no crime has been committed,” the sheriff's office said in a statement to local news station WMBB. A statement from Hess’ office offered similar remarks.
In a statement to local station WJHG, Bay County Sheriff Tommy Ford explained that an arrest would have been made in the case, but that the “facts do not meet the threshold for a criminal charge.”
Officials with Bay District Schools revealed that they ultimately referred the case to the sheriff’s office since the teenager did not specifically mention committing violence against students or school personnel.
Disciplinary action could still befall the high schooler, according to Bay County Superintendent Bill Husfelt, but it will likely not be made public. “While there are consequences for hate speech and disruptive incidents, those individual consequences are not released to the public because student discipline information is confidential and protected,” he told WMBB.
Gregory Dossie, the founder and director of the Bay County Student Advocacy Center, told station WJHG that “as a person of color, I feel frightened and threatened.”
"There are Florida state statutes that they could have been charged under,” he added. “And two of them could have possibly been, unlawful possession of a weapon by a minor and unlawful display of a weapon by a minor.”
Ongoing discussions within Bay County come as residents in Florida’s Broward County grapple with the recent arrest of 16-year-old Wilmer Martinez, who was taken into police custody after footage he posted online showed a gun being pointed at the backs of unsuspecting McArthur High School students.
Martinez’s published video included the caption: "Everyone happy to go back to school and I'm debating on whether I should carry my pistol w me like last year ... exactly why my ass tryna get back in my homeschool rn ... but word to my timbs y'all annoying so."
Broward County police say the teen likely recorded the footage in 2018 prior to his expulsion from the high school. Unlike the Bay County teenager, Martinez is facing a felony charge of making an electronic threat to kill.