A Canadian man who believed he was in a relationship with a 13-year-old in Marion County is behind bars after he allegedly made a series of hoax calls, including one in which he claimed to be shooting children at Dunnellon Middle School.
William Tuckett, 20, was arrested by detectives with the Sault Ste. Marie Police Department in Ontario, Canada on Wednesday, March 20.
Tuckett is accused of making several hoax calls throughout Marion County in February.
According to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, Tuckett allegedly believed he was in an online relationship with a 13-year-old resident of Marion County.
When communication with the victim ended against his wishes, Tuckett began making hoax calls and threatening public safety until the victim resumed contact with him.
In one particular instance, Tuckett made a 911 call to report a shooting at Dunnellon Middle School.
During a recording of the call, Tuckett can be heard telling the dispatcher that his name is “Nick” and that he is going to “shoot everyone” at his school.
“I just wanted to let you guys know that I have an AR-15 and that I was about to go into my school right now and I’m in a red SUV and I’m about to go into my school and shoot everyone,” said the caller.
In the nearly 2-minute call, Tuckett says he has been “feeling really suicidal lately” and that he has been the subject of “bullying.”
“I’m about to just honestly just shoot some kid right now,” said Tuckett in the recording.
Although the dispatcher continued to ask Tuckett questions, he eventually made two more claims that he was going to shoot a student before disconnecting the call.
“I’m going to shoot the kid right now…And I’m about to shoot someone right now,” said Tuckett in the call.
After the call, a large collection of law enforcement authorities responded to the middle school, which is located at 21005 Chestnut Street in Dunnellon.
Over the course of their investigation, authorities determined that Tuckett lived in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, where he had a pattern of making false emergency calls.
Tuckett is charged with three counts of public mischief and three counts of conveying false information.