From Ohio to Alabama and Florida, Schools Grapple With Wave of Student “Kill Lists”

TWLN Staff Reporter | The Weekly Ledger News | Special Report

In the span of just a few months, school officials in Ohio, Alabama, and multiple Florida counties have confronted a chillingly similar pattern: students creating “kill lists,” “death notes,” or notebooks naming classmates alongside threats of violence.

The details vary from district to district. Some threats were discovered in journals or notebooks, others were scrawled on desks or typed on school laptops. In some cases, law enforcement quickly arrested the student and publicly shared mugshots. In others, school systems downplayed or slow–walked information, leaving parents furious that they learned of the threats from other families instead of from their child’s school.

What ties these incidents together is a single, unnerving reality: even when authorities insist a threat is “not credible,” communities are left trying to understand how such violent language is making its way into elementary, middle, and high school classrooms—and what schools are doing about it.

Ohio: “Kill List” and “Death Note” in an Elementary Journal

In Wood County, Ohio, Otsego Local Schools launched a threat assessment late in November after a student reported that a classmate had been writing disturbing entries in a journal on the school bus.

When staff and administrators reviewed the notebook, they discovered two separate lists labeled “Kill List” and “Death Note,” both containing the names of fourth- and fifth-grade students. The district immediately removed the students responsible from class, contacted their families, and brought in local law enforcement and the district’s Threat Assessment Team.

Officials later determined that the situation did not pose a “credible threat” of an imminent attack, but emphasized that the behavior violated board policy and would result in discipline under the student code of conduct.

Even with that assurance, many parents in the region expressed alarm that such language appeared in an elementary school at all, and questioned how quickly their own children would be notified if their names appeared on a similar list.

Sand Rock, Alabama: Parents Say They Weren’t Told Their Children Were Named

Here in Cherokee County, Alabama, community concern has focused as much on communication as on the threat itself.

In early November, multiple Sand Rock School parents told The Weekly Ledger News that they were alerted—not by the school, but by other families—to an alleged “kill book” kept by a student and shown to peers. Some parents say they learned their child’s name was inside only after school.

Cherokee County Schools later confirmed to TWLN that a student had made “threatening statements,” and that disciplinary action had been taken. However, the district declined to answer key questions about:

• Whether a written “kill list” or “kill book” is classified as a death threat under Alabama school safety guidance

• Whether a Class IV violation and mandatory sanctions were triggered under the district’s own code of conduct

• Whether all parents whose children were named were notified directly and in a timely manner

  
  

Parents interviewed by TWLN say some families still have not received an official notification, even though they believe their children were listed. That perceived lack of transparency has intensified community anger and fueled calls for clearer statewide rules on notification and discipline when written threats surface at school.

Volusia County, Florida: Arrests, Perp Walks and Public Debate

In Volusia County, Florida, Sheriff Mike Chitwood has become a high-profile face of how one agency is responding to school threats. His office has repeatedly publicized juvenile arrests tied to “kill lists” and written threats to carry out school shootings.

Riverview Learning Center in Ormond Beach

More recently, staff at Riverview Learning Center, an alternative-education program in Volusia County, notified deputies that an 11-year-old student had written a “kill list” of four names on her desk and announced it aloud.

According to sheriff’s office releases and local coverage, the student was arrested and charged with making a written threat, and the investigation prompted renewed warnings from Chitwood that “no age” is too young for charges when it comes to violent school threats.

The Riverview incident also intersected with a separate case involving a 13-year-old Riverview student accused of threatening a school shooting on his school laptop and asking an AI chatbot how to carry it out—another example of how technology and social media are amplifying the reach and impact of such threats.

Putnam County, Florida: A Notebook in the Girls’ Restroom

In October 2025, deputies in neighboring Putnam County arrested a 12-year-old student at Palatka Junior–Senior High School after a notebook was found in a girls’ restroom containing names of classmates alongside written threats to harm or kill them.

According to reports, the student admitted the notebook belonged to her, and she was charged with a second-degree felony for making written death threats. Local media noted that she was being held in a juvenile facility while the case proceeds.

That case raised its own controversy when some social media pages shared the girl’s name and photo, prompting debate over whether the push to “send a message” is overshadowing juvenile-justice protections.

Hillsborough County: A Weapon on Campus, Same Climate of Fear

While not a “kill list” case, Hillsborough County has faced its own recent scare: in October 2025, a 16-year-old Riverview High School student was arrested after administrators, acting on a tip, searched his backpack and found a fixed-blade kitchen-style knife. Deputies say the weapon was tied to a planned altercation with another student.

The incident underscores that, alongside written lists and notebooks, weapons themselves are still making it onto campuses, feeding the same climate of anxiety that surrounds “kill list” cases.

River Ridge Middle School, in Pasco County, Florida — Another Case of Written Threats

In late September 2025, deputies with the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office arrested a 12-year-old student after school staff at River Ridge Middle School discovered written threats “to kill” involving classmates’ names.

While investigators determined there was no ongoing threat to campus safety, the student was charged with making written threats — a felony under Florida law.

Sheriff’s officials emphasized that any written death threat, even one found before plans can be acted upon, demands immediate disciplinary and law-enforcement action. The school notified families in a standard campus safety alert that deputies had responded and that a threat investigation was underway.

No additional details were released due to the student’s age, but the case mirrors a broader pattern in Florida’s middle schools — where written threats among 11–13-year-olds have increasingly led to police action and felony charges.

A Patchwork of Responses—and a Transparency Gap

Taken together, these incidents show how uneven the response to student threats can be:

• Law enforcement involvement

• In Volusia, Pasco, and Putnam counties, deputies moved quickly and publicly: arrests, press releases, and, in some cases, video of juveniles in custody.

  • In Wood County, Ohio, the district used a formal Threat Assessment Team, emphasized both discipline and a “non-credible” threat finding, and kept external messaging tightly managed.

  • In Cherokee County, Alabama, law enforcement confirmed that juvenile privacy laws limited what they could say, and indicated that school discipline—not criminal charges—would primarily address the Sand Rock case, leaving many details opaque for families seeking clarity.

• Discipline and consequences

• In Ohio, Florida’s Volusia County, Pasco County, and Putnam County, officials have openly cited felony charges or formal code-of-conduct violations to reassure the public that threats are not being treated as “jokes.”

  • In Sand Rock, the district has declined to say whether the student was removed from campus long-term, whether a tribunal or board hearing was held, or what specific disciplinary tier applies to a written “kill book”—despite the Cherokee County student code clearly outlining mandatory sanctions for the most serious Class IV offenses.

• Notification and transparency

• Otsego Local Schools publicly stated that families of listed students would be informed, and sent a district-wide notification describing the incident in general terms.

  • Volusia, Pasco, and Putnam sheriffs not only notified parents but also pushed their messages out via Facebook, Instagram, and local media, arguing that public visibility is part of deterrence.

  • In Sand Rock, parents continue to report that they learned of the alleged list from other parents, not from the school—and some say they still have never received formal confirmation that their child’s name was included.

    
    

The result is a patchwork of approaches that can leave families in smaller communities feeling less protected than those in districts where sheriff’s offices communicate aggressively and immediately.

Why These Cases Keep Happening

Experts in school safety often point to a mix of factors driving these incidents:

• Copycat behavior and online culture. The language of “kill lists” and “death notes” echoes everything from anime and video games to true-crime coverage, making it easier for children to mimic phrases they may not fully understand.

• Social media virality. High-profile videos of students being perp-walked or posts warning “we don’t play about school threats” can simultaneously deter some young people and unintentionally signal to others what kind of behavior will get attention.

• Gaps in mental health and conflict resolution support. Many of the students involved are in middle school or early high school—ages where social conflict, bullying, and emotional volatility peak, even as access to counseling and restorative practices remains inconsistent from district to district.

What Parents and Communities Are Asking For

Across states and school systems, the demands from parents are strikingly similar:

1. Immediate, direct notification

   Families want to know right away if their child’s name appears on any list or in any threat—even if authorities ultimately determine the threat is not credible.

2. Clear, consistent discipline policies

   Parents are pressing districts and state officials to clarify how written “kill lists” and death threats are categorized in student codes of conduct, and what mandatory steps (tribunals, board hearings, alternative placements) must follow.

3. Transparency without sensationalism

   Communities are grappling with how to balance privacy protections for juveniles with the community’s right to know. Some support sheriffs who publicize arrests; others worry about the long-term impact of putting children’s faces and names online.

4. Investment in prevention

   Many parents and educators say they want just as much attention on prevention—mental health resources, anti-bullying initiatives, social–emotional learning—as on arrests and punishments after a list is discovered.

What’s Next

As incidents involving “kill lists” and written threats continue to surface—from an Ohio elementary school to alternative programs in Florida and small-town campuses in Alabama—the question is no longer whether this is a one-off phenomenon. It isn’t.

The real questions now are:

• Will states develop uniform standards for how schools must respond, notify, and discipline when a written threat appears?

• Will districts err on the side of maximum transparency, or continue to handle these cases quietly, behind the scenes?

• And, perhaps most urgently, what can be done upstream to keep violent language and fantasies from becoming part of how children express anger, frustration, or a desire for attention?

  
  

For parents in communities like Sand Rock, those answers can’t come soon enough.

Copyright 2025 TWLN. All rights reserved. Reporting for this article draws on public records, official statements from school districts and law enforcement, parent interviews, and coverage from several contributing media outlets.