CAPE CORAL, Fla. — Investigators at the Cape Coral Police Department and the State Attorney's Office have not filed charges against the man, accused of a bomb threat against Cape Coral High School.
Fox 4 senior reporter Kaitlin Knapp went to police, asking why the person has not been charged.
On Wednesday morning, police say a man reportedly man a bomb threat against the school to a student. That student told a school resource officer, prompting the school and others nearby into a lockdown.
"Obviously parents want to see someone held responsible for such an egregious action that posed a threat to their child," said Mercedes Phillips, a Cape Coral Police spokesperson.
Police say they detained a man, questioned him and arrested him for an unrelated charge — nothing to do with the threat.
"The way the law works, we have to have certain criteria to make certain charges," Phillips said. "From what we know now, we did not necessarily have that certain criteria."
Detectives are looking at another charge: disrupting a school function. This is a second-degree misdemeanor, according to Florida statute.
"As for misdemeanors, there are certain misdemeanors that if they didn't occur in our presence, we can't make an arrest for just based on the law," Phillips explained.
However, once police arrest someone, it's up to the State Attorney's Office to officially file the charges.
Fox 4 reached out to the office and a spokesperson said, "We do not have a case yet involving that incident."
"To the parents, obviously they want someone held responsible," Phillips said. "But based on our investigation, the State Attorney's Office is going to have to decide everything like that."
The person can still be charged with the bomb threat at this point, or the misdemeanor. However, it's not clear if and when that would happen.
