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12-year-old student charged with threatening to kill classmates

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NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. (AP) - Authorities say they've arrested a Tampa Bay area middle school student who threatened to kill his classmates.

The Tampa Bay Times (https://goo.gl/MkRh5q ) reports that the 12-year-old Seven Springs Middle School student faces an adult, felony charge of making a written threat to kill.

The Pasco County Sheriff's Office reports that the boy made an account on a social networking video app, musical.ly, with the name "clouning_around" and used a photo of a scary clown as his profile picture. One post said he was going to kill sixth-graders at Seven Springs on Friday.

Concerned parents contacted the sheriff's office Monday night. Deputies traced the account to the student.

Sheriff Chris Nocco said the boy didn't appear to have the means to carry out his threat and likely posted it as a joke.

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Information from: Tampa Bay Times (St. Petersburg, Fla.), http://www.tampabay.com.

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