On 09-20-19 at 8:47 a.m., the School Resource Officer at Challenger K-8, Deputy Shaun Duval, received information that a student may be arriving at school (on a school bus) with a firearm. As he received the information, the school buses were arriving at the school.
Additional deputies were dispatched to the campus.
Deputies located the student, Austin Lemuel Cheveres, 14 years of age, and took him to the school office for questioning.
During this time, other deputies on the scene interviewed other students and additional witnesses.
Investigation revealed the following information: On today’s date Cheveres used the Instagram app, while on the school bus, to send the message, “I’m going to shoot him.” On 09-18-19, Cheveres made statements to several other students to the effect of, “” I’m going to bring a gun to school and shoot him” and “You no I love you bro but its gonna go down tomorrow I’m gonna shoot it up here.”
While being interviewed by the School Resource Officer, Cheveres admitted to sending the Instagram message and making the statements listed above and completed a sworn statement verifying same.
Deputy Shaun Duval placed Austin Cheveres under arrest, charging him with Written Threats to Kill or Injure. Cheveres was transported to the Hernando County Detention Center and will be transported to the Department of Juvenile Justice in Ocala.
Deputies determined that Cheveres did not have access to a firearm and did not take one to the campus on this date.
The case is still under investigation.
