Florida

Florida sheriff shames 2 more kids after school threats. Is it a good idea?

Published

1 year ago

September 19, 2024

Florida sheriff shames 2 more kids after school threats. Is it a good idea?

Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood is making good on his promise to arrest and publicly shame children who make school shooting threats. Days after he drew national attention for “perp walking” an 11-year-old boy, the Florida sheriff posted photos and videos of two more teenagers accused of making threats.

Chitwood said the teens, a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old, were taken into custody after posting threats to Snapchat on Wednesday. USA TODAY is not naming the teens because they are minors.

According to the sheriff, the 17-year-old sent a photo that said “Imma shoot up the school” with a picture of her school laptop. The 16-year-old replied “Same,” Chitwood said.

“We are wasting time and resources on this,” Chitwood said in a Facebook post.

“It’s not fair to the 99% of kids who are doing the right thing.”

After the mass school shooting that left four people dead at Apalachee High School in Georgia earlier this month, law enforcement agencies all over the country have been responding to an onslaught of school shooting threats. Experts say ramped up threats are common after any mass shooting. While the majority turn out to be hoaxes, they can still bring school communities to a standstill.

Students have faced charges for such threats elsewhere, but Chitwood’s unusual experiment in public humiliation as deterrence has been met with mixed reactions.

Social media was flooded with comments in support of the sheriff from other Floridians. Some said the 11-year-old’s age didn’t matter, and he should face consequences consistent with the seriousness of the threat. Others said his parents should also be held accountable.

But Chitwood’s experiment defies norms in the juvenile justice system, prompting some experts to be concerned about unintended consequences.

“I can understand the frustration and the need for law enforcement to have some kind of response, but whether that should be a child doing a perp walk, I would question whether that’s going to achieve the goal of preventing further threats,” said Deborah Weisbrot, a child psychiatrist and professor at Stony Brook Medicine who has researched students who make shooting threats.

Students, parents put on notice: Threats won’t be tolerated

Law enforcement officials in Volusia County have been working “around the clock” to investigate and address dozens of threats against local schools that were found not to be credible. But the response costs thousands, Chitwood said.

“Starting Monday, your little cherub, we’re gonna start publishing his face and doing perp walks with him when we take him into custody, and then we’re going to show pictures of you, the parents,” he said.

Florida juvenile records are kept confidential, but may be made public if the child is charged with a felony, as in the case of the minors Chitwood has taken into custody.

The 11-year-old who was “perp walked” and posted online on Monday was accused of making threats to commit a shooting at Creekside or Silver Sands Middle School in Port Orange, a city just south of Daytona Beach, Florida. The sheriff’s office said he showed off weapons in a video chat and had a list of written names and targets. He told investigators that the threat was a joke, as did the teens arrested Wednesday, the sheriff’s office said.

In recent weeks, local news outlets and police departments have reported that threats prompted lockdowns or cancelled classes in Maryland, Alabama, Tennessee and several other states. One Missouri school district told USA TODAY that it cancelled classes and postponed school events after threats were made. Local police said two students were arrested for separate threats in the last week.

“On an emotional level, these threats understandably led to heightened anxiety among students, staff, and parents,” Superintendent of the Southern Boone County R-1 School District Tim Roth said in an emailed statement. “We are well aware that such incidents can create a sense of uncertainty and fear, and we remain committed to fostering an environment where everyone feels safe, supported and heard.”

Name and shame: Can this tactic stop school shooting threats?

Students who make school shooting threats usually have underlying histories of psychiatric problems that require treatment or histories of abuse, according to Weisbrot’s research that looked at students who were referred for threat assessments over a two-decade span. None of those students went on to become school shooters, but the presence of a diagnosis alone concerned Weisbrot much less than whether the child had access to weapons.

“The good news is the vast majority of kids who make threats, they’re transient threats,” Weisbrot said. In other words, the threats don’t indicate a potential for actual harm, and may have been made as jokes, figures of speech or expressions of in-the-moment emotions, according to the Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines.

So does public embarrassment work to deter kids from making those threats? That remains to be seen, and evidence is lacking to support the tactic, Weisbrot said. But Weisbrot has serious concerns that perp walking and posting the mugshots of kids could have the opposite effect.

“Whether posting their pictures online… is in some cases going to actually feed into some kids’ desire for their moment of fame,” she said. “Or even worse, in certain cases where we don’t really understand why the student has made a threat, lead to them being traumatized, humiliated and then further ostracized in school, and that necessarily isn’t going to help either.”

Florida State University criminology professor Daniel Mears told the Associated Press that the actions go against the concept of juvenile justice, which usually keeps records confidential so kids can have a “second shot in life.”

In response to USA TODAY’s questions about the concerns, Chitwood pointed to a dramatic increase in school shooting threats in Florida.

“Unfortunately, threats in Florida are five times higher than they were last year at this time,” Chitwood said in an emailed statement.

The sheriff told AP that he doesn’t know if public embarrassment is going to work, but he felt he had to act. “Something has to be done,” Chitwood said. “Where are the parents?”

And it’s not the first time a Florida sheriff has tried it.

Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno paraded a 10-year-old boy in front of cameras last year for allegedly making a threat, and two middle schoolers in 2021 for allegedly planning a school attack, the Daytona Beach News-Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported.

In that case, experts told the News-Journal they’d never heard of a kid so young being perp walked by any law enforcement agency.

“He’s 10 years old. He doesn’t know what he’s doing,” Florida International University criminology professor Suman Kakar said at the time. “To go to that extent with exposing him to the media in handcuffs, putting this picture everywhere – the officer is very proud of himself and wants to be known all over the nation as the one protecting our children, but it has the opposite effect.”

If anything to deter the shooting threats comes from this, Weisbrot thinks it may prompt parents to pay closer attention to what their kids are doing and saying online. This is a complex problem that will require a multi-layered approach with involvement from family, the school community, psychiatric help and law enforcement, she said.

“The important thing is just not taking it at face value, assessing if the threat is dangerous or not, and then moving on,” Weisbrot said, but “looking below the surface to try to understand what’s going on with this particular individual that would lead them to make this particular choice.”

Contributing: Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY; Mary Ellen Ritter and Patricio G. Balona, Daytona Beach News-Journal

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University of Florida Baseball Coach Kevin O’Sullivan to Take Leave of Absence – Florida Gators

Published

10 hours ago

October 22, 2025

Press Room

University of Florida Baseball Coach Kevin O’Sullivan to Take Leave of Absence – Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — University of Florida Head Baseball Coach Kevin O’Sullivan will take a leave of absence from his coaching duties to address personal matters, effective immediately.

During O’Sullivan’s absence, Chuck Jeroloman will assume leadership of the baseball program on an interim basis.

“I appreciate the support of the University and athletic department, “said O’Sullivan. “I have some personal and family issues that need my full attention at this time.”

“Coach O’Sullivan has our full support as he takes the time he needs to focus on personal matters,” said Athletics Director Scott Stricklin. “We appreciate his openness in communicating this decision, and respect his need for privacy.”

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The Browns: A Brotherly Basketball Bond – Florida Gators

Published

1 day ago

October 22, 2025

Press Room

The Browns: A Brotherly Basketball Bond – Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Asked if he recalled the first time beating his older brother in one-on-one, Isaiah Brown did not hesitate.

“Very clearly,” he said.

As for AJ Brown, two years Isaiah’s elder, not so much.

“Controversial ending,” he said.

Rewind to maybe a decade ago. Game point. Isaiah down 14-13. Next bucket wins. Isaiah tried using his bigger body to back his brother down, but AJ held firm. A drive to the left didn’t work. Drive right, same result. AJ walled up both times.

It was time to make things simple.

“I just backed away and threw up a shot,” Isaiah said. “It went in and I ran into the house.”

The historic victory was announced to the rest of the family, as Isaiah made way to his bedroom, followed closely behind by a protesting AJ. The game, apparently, was not over.

“We’re going to 21,” AJ said.

Back out they went.

The Browns’ basketball journeys – both together and individually – have been defined mostly by fierce competition that culminated with crowd-pleasing success. They won a two state championships together in high school. AJ became a mid-major standout at Ohio University in the Mid-American Conference. Isaiah, two years later, chose the high-major route, signed with Florida and celebrated a national championship as a freshman.

Now, in 2025, their paths that began in an Orlando driveway have converged two hours north, where AJ and Isaiah are now teammates for the Gators and – it just so happens – battling one another for backup minutes at the small forward and shooting guard positions.

And they’re totally cool with it.

Top: Isaiah (left) and AJ (right) after winning their first of back-to-back state championships at Orlando Christian Prep.

Bottom: Cute kids mugging for the camera

“For me, it’s basketball. The better player wins,” AJ said. “Whatever the coaches see as the best fit for the season, that’s what it’s going to be. I mean, we’re going to be competitive. We’re going to be at each other’s throats. But at the end of the day it’s the coaches’ decision.”

Also, at the end of the day, they’re brothers; the first sibling tandem, in fact, to team up for Florida men’s basketball since Dwayne and Travis Schintzius played half the infamous 1989-90 season together (before that, it was Joe and Pat Lawrence from 1984-87).

“There is never going to be bad blood between AJ and me,” said Isaiah, who goes by “Zay” to his team. “It’s more like, if he plays, I’m glad. ‘Yeah, go for it.’ If I’m playing, he’s going to cheer for me.”

The Brown brothers cutting up with teammate Cooper Josefsberg (left) during a studio photo shoot.

Coach Todd Golden, entering his fourth season at Florida and seventh as a head coach, has a system based on rotation of eight or nine players that gets squeezed as the season goes deeper.

The Gators are stocked in the front court and that includes with junior Thomas Haugh, arguably the best sixth man in the country last season, locked in at the “3” spot after playing almost exclusively as a backup “4” the last two years. It is the backup role to Haugh – as well as the third shooting guard behind Princeton transfer Xaivian Lee and returning junior Urban Klavzar – where the Brown brothers are fighting for minutes in the rotation.

AJ (foreground) and Isaiah (background) during a summer morning conditioning session at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

Through the first month of fall practice, freshman CJ Ingram distinguished himself at the backup “3” and has played large chunks of practice on the blue (or front-line) squad during full-contact scrimmages.

AJ and Isaiah, meanwhile, have been almost exclusively running with the white (or scout) team and looking to make their mark. There’s still time to do so.

“They’ve both been up and down, but they’re competing and that’s all we ask,” said UF associate head coach Korey McCray, who tutors the guards and is quick to remind the reserves how three of the starter’s on last season’s 36-4 squad missed games due to injuries. “What it looks like today may not be what it looks like that tomorrow. You have to stay ready.”

The coaching staff, in turn, must have a hand in that.

“You keep coaching them, keep encouraging them, but it has to come from themselves,” said Taurean Green, who oversees player development. “They’re both older players now. Zay is in his second year. AJ is a veteran college player. This is his fourth year. They know what to expect in college basketball. They’ve got to be able to bring it consistently. They know what it takes to play at a high level and what it takes to win.”

The Brown family (from left): father **Ronald Jr.**, AJ, **Ronald III**, **Siarah**, **Isaiah** and mother **Sheraida**.

AJ is 21 with 62 career games and 731 points. Isaiah is 19, with just 19 games and 36 points on his short resume. The Browns were five years younger when they won the first of back-to-back Class 2A state championships at Orlando Christian Prep. AJ once scored 35 in game. Isaiah later topped that with 45.

So, yeah, they know how to win, but they also have individual games that aren’t much alike. That’s fitting. They also don’t look much alike, despite both being 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds.

“You should see my twin sister,” AJ said. “She looks nothing like me.”

Added Isaiah: “The best way to explain it is that he’s more Type A and I’m more Type B. I’m going to let it happen, he’s going to make it happen. Honestly, I think that’s the only way we’re different because we both love to laugh, listen to the same music and are strong in our faiths. We’re common in so many ways.”

But not basketball.

Here’s how father Ronald Brown Jr. described his sons’ respective skill sets: “Finesse player versus a brute.”

AJ is the former. At Ohio, he averaged 11.4 points over his three seasons, with a career-high of 28 in the 2023 Mid-American Conference Tournament game against Ball State as a freshman (earlier that season, AJ scored 14 points in an 82-48 loss to UF at Tampa). As a senior, he finished at 13.2 points a game on 47.1% from the floor, 38.8 from the 3-point line and 82.0% from the free-throw line. For context, his 139 makes from distance were 22 more than Walter Clayton Jr. banged last season for the Gators. At his best, he can stroke it.

**AJ Brown** (3) was a volume 3-point shooter at Ohio U, where he hit 37.7% from deep over his three seasons.

But while a run of double-digit scoring in 15 of 16 games in ’25, AJ suffered a season-ending shoulder injury against rival Miami-Ohio. Six weeks later, he watched on television as Florida defeated Houston for the NCAA title in San Antonio on April 7.

“I was so happy for my brother. I felt like I was there,” he said.

AJ went into the transfer portal and followed his younger sibling to UF. Less than a month into his Gainesville arrival, AJ underwent surgery to fix his shoulder, then spent almost the entire summer rehabbing before being cleared for full-contact work just before the start of official fall practice. The potential for a medical redshirt ’25-26 season is something he has not ruled out. Whatever happens, AJ’s return to being the hot-shooting Ohio Bobcat version of himself is progressing.

“Honestly, the Lord has been good to our family,” Ronald Brown said. “AJ had other options and, truth be told, he really loved playing for Ohio. But the opportunity came up and it was something, as a family, we sat down and talked about. Even for AJ, as many years as he was at Ohio and how much he played, he understood that coming to Florida was like starting over again. Everything was going to be different. Everything was going to be harder. But playing with his brother was ultimately why he made the decision.”

Isaiah, a lefty with bounce, totaled 71 minutes as a collegiate rookie last season, with his most meaningful on-court time (six minutes) coming in a Southeastern Conference home game against Vanderbilt with Clayton sidelined by an ankle injury. He had nine points (with a pair of 3s) in seven minutes earlier in the season against Florida A&M and seven points and four rebounds in 10 minutes against North Florida. He is, by far, the better athlete of the two brothers, with the ability to draw on that athleticism to be physical when determined to do so.

Even AJ admits as much.

“Not everybody can be blessed with a 40-inch vertical jump,” he said.

**Isaiah Brown** with a run-out slam as a freshman against Stetson last season.

Though he combined to play just three minutes in the Gators’ six NCAA Tournament games, the sight of Isaiah in tears and hugging best friend Micah Handlogten amid the post-game national final celebration at the Alamodome made clear what the season meant to him.

“One of the things that he understands was that he might not have played on the court, but he was part of the program and helping guys get better each and every day,” Ronald Brown said. “A lot of people don’t understand or appreciate how much the day-to-day routine and practice matter.”

Fast forward to present day.

The Browns play almost exclusively on the white team during scrimmages. In facing Haugh, Alex Condon, Reuben Chinyelu and friends, some days are tougher than others for the backups, which only means they need to increase their toughness. Play through. Compete.

Two weekends ago, for example, the white defeated the blue in an O’Dome scrimmage, much to the delight of the coaches (and the irritation of the starters). The Browns, after a stretch of some struggles that week, were terrific that day. Isaiah, especially.

When at their best, according to Green:

* On Isaiah: “A big, athletic, physical SEC body. He has a high motor. When he plays under control he is an effective player. Just needs to keep the game simple. Crash hard, throw his body around.”

* On AJ: “He needs to get his rhythm back and hunt shots. He’s a very good shooter. He’s got a slow and smooth release, but he’s a smart enough player to get it off and know he has to be aggressive on offense. It’s harder on the white team, but they’ve been practicing long enough to understand what they’re up against, who they’re up against and what they need to do.”

In other words, keep working, keep competing as if it was a driveway grudge match.

Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu Find his story archives here.

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Fall Ball: Week Three Schedule – Florida Gators

Published

2 days ago

October 21, 2025

Press Room

Fall Ball: Week Three Schedule – Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Week three of fall ball has arrived for Florida Baseball, featuring four open scrimmages and six practices beginning on the afternoon of Tuesday, Oct. 21.

All fall practices and scrimmages are open to the public. Fans can access the concourse through Gate 3 of Condron Family Ballpark (located directly behind home plate).

Below is the current practice schedule for week three. All practice and approximate scrimmage times are subject to change.

Date	Practice	Scrimmage
Monday, Oct. 20	OFF	OFF
Tuesday, Oct. 21	2:00 PM	NONE
Wednesday, Oct. 22	2:00 PM	3:45 PM
Thursday, Oct. 23	2:00 PM	NONE
Friday, Oct. 24	2:00 PM	3:45 PM
Saturday, Oct. 25	10:00 AM	12:00 PM
Sunday, Oct. 26	10:00 AM	11:45 AM
Monday, Oct. 27	OFF	OFF

*Scrimmages typically begin approximately 90 minutes to two hours into each practice

Additionally, Florida’s fall season features exhibition games against JU in Jacksonville (Oct. 31) and Georgia Southern at Condron Family Ballpark (Nov. 10). Tickets for the Florida-Jacksonville exhibition are currently available for purchase.