Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Kayli Brooke Gollwitzer, 18, was arrested last night and charged with making a written threat to commit a mass shooting after Snap Inc. reportedly informed the FBI about a threat of a mass shooting posted on its Snapchat platform.

At 10 p.m. on Friday, April 26, the FBI National Threat Operations Section Exigent Threat Research and Analysis Crisis Team (EXTRACT) received information from Snap Inc. about a school shooting threat that had been posted on Snapchat. The display name for the account was “kayli gollwitzer,” and the account included Gollwitzer’s date of birth, phone number, email address, and the GPS coordinates of her home.

The post, which was made between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Friday night, showed a picture of several students dancing at the Buchholz High School prom (which was held at the Reitz Union on Friday night) with the words “yeah I’m shooting up the school.”

The complaint was forwarded by email to the local FBI office, and that office forwarded it to the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office Patrol Operations Division.

At about 6:32 p.m. on Saturday night, deputies made contact with Gollwitzer’s parents at their home; her parents said she had left about 20 minutes before the deputies arrived. Gollwitzer’s parents asked her to return to their home and told the deputies that Gollwitzer had recently told them that her Snapchat account had been deactivated, but she didn’t know why. Her parents said Gollwitzer does not have any access to firearms.

The deputies noted that Gollwitzer was visibly distressed when she returned to the house. Post Miranda, she admitted that she had not enjoyed herself at prom and had made the post that said “yeah I’m shooting up the school.” She said she had no intention to do that and no access to a firearm; she said it was a “joke” that she only sent to five of her closest friends, who thought it was funny. She reportedly acknowledged “the severity of the statement” and said if she had read the same post from another Snapchat user, she would believe she was in danger.

The deputies reportedly consulted with the ASO Criminal Investigations Division before deciding to arrest Gollwitzer and charge her with making a written threat to conduct a mass shooting, a felony.

Gollwitzer has been released from the Alachua County Jail; the bail amount is currently unavailable.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.