A 29-year-old Leesburg woman is accused of threatening a mass shooting after she commented on a Facebook post about a daycare center in Oxford where an employee was arrested and fired after a child abuse allegation.
The owner of the business, the name of which was redacted in the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office arrest affidavit, told a deputy on Friday that a number of people had been posting comments on Facebook about the abuse incident. She perceived one comment – written around 6:30 a.m. by Grace Marie Abadia Walters – as a threat and reported it to a Department of Children and Families (DCF) investigator, according to the report.
The comment stated, “(expletive deleted) sad af … We both would have been in jaill would shot up the place and beat everyyyy mf teacher ass in the building all y’all responsible if you ask me.” The daycare owner told the deputy she informed all the parents that a threat was made and their children were safe, the report said.
Walters, who lives at 1906 Helms Ave. in Leesburg, was identified as the author of the comment through a comparison of her Facebook profile and driver’s license photos. The deputy spoke by phone with Walters, who said she was not familiar with the business involved in the incident, nor does she have any children who attend the daycare, according to the report.
Walters turned herself in Friday night at a bail bond business in Bushnell. She was charged with intimidation by making a written or electronic threat to conduct a mass shooting or act of terrorism. Walters, who declined to speak to police about the incident, was taken to the Sumter County Detention Center, where she was released later in the evening on $5,000 bond.
