Parrish student wrote a rap song about his principal. It got him arrested, cops say

A Parrish Community High School student was arrested last week after he wrote and posted to social media a rap song about killing his principal for disciplining him over a prior incident of threatening another student, according to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

In a sheriff’s office incident report dated Feb. 18 and released late Thursday, the student made unspecified threats toward another student and his discipline was handled by the school principal.

“Sometime between that incident and this past weekend, (the student) wrote a rap song that was later published on Sound Cloud that made threats against the dean that handled the previous incident,” the report states.

According to the deputy who investigated the incident, probable cause was developed to arrest the student and charge him with written threats to kill.

The student was taken to the juvenile booking facility.

Despite multiple threats by Manatee County students to commit violence against schools, other students or staff this school year, the Parrish student is just one of a handful who have been arrested.

In September, a 14-year-old Lincoln Memorial Academy student was arrested for bringing a loaded gun to school.

In October, a Palmetto High School student was arrested after posting on Snapchat, “I want to be a school shooter,” declaring he had the means to do it.

That same month, a Nolan Middle School student was arrested after allegedly rubbing two knives together and brandished a firearm while threatening to shoot another student.

The district does not comment on student disciplinary actions, saying only that it takes every threat serious and cooperates with law enforcement. The district has opted to handle the majority of cases internally.

Some of those cases this year that did not involve an arrest, include:

• On Feb. 12, a Blackburn Elementary School student threatened his principal saying he would return to school, “with a gun and light the place up.”
• On Feb. 7, another Blackburn Elementary School student — a third grader — was questioned after telling other students, “I’m gonna leave and go home, get a gun and come back and shoot everybody.”
• On Sept. 13, a Dr. Mona Jain Middle School student told another student, “not to be sad, because things could be worse. You could be on the ground, everyone around you dead, and me standing over you about to deal the final blow.”
• September was a busy month with a student at Lakewood Ranch High School being questioned for comments about “gun play,” and Braden River High School student was suspended when she, “began to draw and write about blowing up and shooting up a school.”

There have been other incidents this year that did not lead to an arrest. According to district spokesman Mike Barber, the incidents are unfortunately an ongoing issue, saying the district had more than a dozen such cases the previous school year.

This story was originally published February 28, 2020 at 9:52 AM.