FLAGLER BEACH, Fla. – A 14-year-old Matanzas High School student was arrested after deputies say he sent threatening messages and displayed a firearm during an online dispute with classmates, according to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.
School resource deputies were notified Monday afternoon after a dean reported a lunchtime altercation involving three students. While reviewing written statements from two of the boys involved, the dean learned that the third student, identified as Lincoln Cottle, had allegedly threatened them with a firearm during a Snapchat argument the night before.
Deputies said Cottle admitted to the dean that the firearm shown in the video was real and belonged to his father. Investigators interviewed the two victims, who reported receiving a Snapchat video showing Cottle holding a firearm while making threats. One student told deputies Cottle threatened to put “a bullet through his stomach,” while another reported being told he would put “a bullet in his head.”
A third student who witnessed the lunchroom confrontation told deputies he heard Cottle repeat threats to shoot the boys after school.
Cottle, 14, of Flagler Beach, was arrested on a charge of written or electronic threats to kill or do bodily injury. He was transported to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility for processing before being transferred to the Volusia Family Resource Center and turned over to the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice.
“The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office investigates any threat to kill, and we take every threat seriously,” Sheriff Rick Staly said. “Regardless of age, threatening to kill someone is a felony and is not something that we tolerate.”
Staly added, “We don’t like arresting your child, so I urge parents to be the Sheriff in your home and not only teach your children these threats can have serious consequences but also know how they are communicating and what they are saying online.”
Flagler Schools Superintendent LaShakia Moore emphasized the district’s focus on safety, saying, “Student safety is a priority that doesn’t end at the classroom door. Through our close partnership with FCSO, we investigate every report with urgency.”
Moore added, “We ask parents to help us reinforce a critical message: threats are never a joke or a game; they carry life-altering consequences.”
Authorities encourage students and parents to report threats by contacting the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office at 386-313-4911, notifying school staff or a school resource deputy, or submitting tips through the FortifyFL reporting system.
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