ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla — St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office arrested three Creekside High School students after they allegedly had a “hit list” and a “lethal hit list” of other students.
Deputies discovered text messages that discussed the identification of targeted students, which included photos of their faces circled, ariel photos of Creekside High School with an on-campus location circled and talks about using firearms to commit the crimes. The “hit list” was created for select students the group wanted to physically harm and the “lethal hit list” was for students the group wanted to kill.
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Detectives with the Major Crimes Unit were consulted, and they decided to charge the students with written threats to kill or do bodily harm and unlawful use of a two-way communication device. Nikita Calantropo, 15, Ron Quinones, 14, and Kiryl Nerad, 14, were arrested and taken to St. Johns County Jail.
An arrest report said another student in the group chat was concerned and fearful, he reported it to the school.
“There were pictures of the individuals on this lethal hitlist, that were actually group photos or individual photos that were circled,” said Sheriff Hardwick.
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An arrest report we received from the sheriff’s office said the group of students formed what was called a Russian communist group named the ‘United Boyopolis Socialist Republic’ due to being bullied by other students.
The report also details the group chat saying it included a “schedule of classes of the targeted students, their home addresses, and photos of the targets with the faces circled to identify them.”
“At this time, all of the potential victims and their families have been notified and or guardians have been notified,” said Sheriff Hardwick.
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The sheriff has a message he wants to give to parents.
“You have to be involved in your children’s lives,” said Sheriff Hardwick.
Action News Jax spoke with Michelle, a parent with kids that are almost in high school, she said this is very upsetting.
“Parents should be checking their kids’ interactions , their social medias, their private messages even,” said Michelle.
The sheriff said this is a long investigation and it is on-going.
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