A 12-year-old Southwestern Middle School student in DeLand is facing serious charges after deputies say she wrote a meticulous 13-step plan for a shooting at the campus, complete with named targets and tactics for sneaking in weapons. Investigators say the document, which laid out where to hide and which classmates and a teacher to attack, was posted online, reported to authorities, and triggered an overnight scramble by law enforcement.
What deputies say
Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood told reporters this was not treated as a joke, describing the document as a chilling, methodical outline for an attack rather than a prank. He said the plan mapped out how to get guns onto school grounds, where to conceal them, and specifically who to target, details first reported by Fox San Antonio.
Tip, tracing and arrest
According to deputies, an anonymous tipster sent the online post to FortifyFL, the statewide system that lets students and community members flag school safety concerns. Investigators say they tracked the post to an IP address in DeLand and then identified a suspect. The Volusia Sheriff's Office arrested 12-year-old Josephine Simmons-Peters around 1:30 a.m. It charged her with making written threats to kill and misuse of a two-way communications device, as detailed in an arrest affidavit cited by FOX 35 Orlando.
School response and safety oversight
The Volusia Sheriff's Office Domestic Security Unit handled the initial investigation, and officials say the agency's Behavioral Threat Assessment Unit will now oversee the case moving forward. Authorities took the student to the Volusia Family Resource Center after her arrest. Southwestern Middle and district materials prominently list FortifyFL as the tool for reporting threats, and local coverage has focused on how the system worked in this case. WFTV reported those operational details, while the school's FortifyFL guidance appears on the campus website at Southwestern Middle.
Bullying claimed as motive
Investigators say the girl told deputies she put the plan together because she felt she was being bullied and listed the names of students she claimed had harassed her. A parent at the school told reporters that bullying is rampant on campus and said the situation shows why adults need to step in sooner, comments that were reported by Fox San Antonio.
Legal implications
The 12-year-old is charged with making written threats to kill and misuse of a two-way communications device. Because she is a juvenile, the case will move through a different process than adult criminal court and may be handled in the family court system. The Volusia Sheriff's Office says its Behavioral Threat Assessment Unit will continue to monitor the case while detectives analyze the online post, according to ClickOrlando.
Detectives have not released the full document and say they are still trying to determine whether anyone else had a role in the alleged plot. Authorities are asking anyone with additional information to contact the Volusia Sheriff's Office, and local outlets report they will continue to update coverage as new details emerge, per FOX 35 Orlando.
