An 18-year-old Tampa man has been taken into custody after allegedly threatening to carry out a mass shooting at a school in a social media post. The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office arrested Oscar Nygard after receiving a tip about a post made on X.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post, “The tip stated an X account made a post threatening a mass shooting of “little girls at a school” and for “setting the record for most females killed in a single mass shooting. #teamHCSO traced the post to a home in Tampa, where Nygard admitted to posting the messages on the account.”
“Threats like this strike fear into our communities and will never be treated as a joke,” said Sheriff Chad Chronister. “Thanks to a quick tip and the swift work of our deputies, this individual was identified and taken into custody before anyone could be harmed. If you make violent threats online, we will find you, and you will be held accountable.”
Who is Oscar Nygard?
Not much has been revealed about Nygard except that he faces charges related to making written threats to conduct a mass shooting, per AOL. The investigation remains active.
Authorities have not released information regarding a potential motive or access to weapons.
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The National Institutes of Health said that gun violence in America is “a public health crisis.”
“In 2019, gun injury became the leading cause of death among children aged birth to 19 years. Moreover, the United States has had 57 times as many school shootings as all other major industrialized nations combined,” it added.
In 2024, the National Institutes of Health conducted a study to understand the frequency of school-related gun violence across a quarter century, taking into account both school shootings and school mass shootings.
“Across the 1997-1998 to 2021-2022 school years, there were 1453 school shootings. The most recent 5 school years reflected a substantially higher number of school shootings than the prior 20 years. In contrast, US school mass shootings have not increased, although school mass shootings have become more deadly,” it said.
