The Marion County Sheriff’s Office released a statement Friday defending the actions of law enforcement in dealing with the 19-year-old who is accused of shooting a student at Forest High School last week.
According to the statement, a Marion County detective first investigated threats made by Sky Bouche in October 2013. The detective was acting in his capacity as a member of an FBI Regional Task Force, the report says.
The detective went to Osceola Middle School to investigate comments that Bouche had made on the internet after the former Forest High School student, who was 15 at the time, posted comments about doing a shooting at his school after watching a YouTube video on the Columbine shooting, the report says. The comments also said that Bouche had the weapons and ammunition to carry out a shooting, the report states.
The detective and an Ocala Police Department school resource officer met with Bouche and he admitted to making the comments, the report says. But he denied owning weapons and stated that he was just trying to gain attention “because he felt hopeless.” The detective said he was concerned for Bouche’s well-being and referred him to a mental health facility for a violent risk assessment.
That same day, the detective and another Marion County deputy went to Bouche’s house, and after receiving consent, searched for weapons. Only replica firearms, like BB or pellet guns, were found, the report says.
The report states that under Florida law that was in place in 2013, Bouche could not be charged with any criminal violations and his threats could not be substantiated. But if the incident had occurred today under a newly amended Florida statute as part of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Act, law enforcement would have been able to take criminal action against Bouche, the report says, adding that the new law enables law enforcement to bring criminal charges against those who make written threats to conduct mass shootings or an act of terrorism.
“It is our conclusion that all the law enforcement agencies involved worked collaboratively in investigating this matter and took the appropriate actions under the law that existed at that point in time,” the statement says.