PALM COAST, Fla. – A 16-year-old Palm Coast girl is facing felony charges after the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said she repeatedly abused a school safety reporting app to trigger swatting incidents at multiple schools and her own home.
Lilyana Blanco was arrested on Sept. 16 following an extensive investigation into a series of false tips submitted through FortifyFL, a suspicious activity reporting tool designed to help keep schools safe.
According to a news release, the first tip, received Aug. 13, claimed one of Blanco’s siblings had a firearm and had been instructed to shoot up the lunchroom at Rymfire Elementary School. Detectives traced the tip to a device inside Blanco’s home. While investigators were on scene interviewing her mother, a second tip came in claiming someone was headed to Flagler Palm Coast High School to “shoot it up.” Deputies quickly determined that threat was also a hoax — and that Blanco had sent it from a second device while detectives were still in her home.
A search warrant was executed at Blanco’s home on Aug. 19, and multiple electronics were seized. A forensic review of her phone confirmed it was used to submit the false FortifyFL tips. Despite that, her mother purchased Blanco a new cellphone — which detectives found on her at the time of her arrest, the news release states.
On Sept. 14, deputies received a tip through the FortifyFL app reporting that Blanco planned to kill her family and burn down her home that night. The tip also alleged she had considered killing someone at her school earlier that day but decided against it. When deputies responded to her home to investigate, Blanco denied making the threats and claimed she had no access to electronics, but detectives, however, traced the threat back to Blanco, the news release states.
“This girl repeatedly and dangerously abused a tool that students, parents, and the community rely on to help keep our schools safe, appearing to do so for no other reason than to cause fear, chaos, and waste our time,” said Sheriff Rick Staly.
Staly noted the agency dedicated more than 300 hours to investigating Blanco’s threats and said her mother continued to allow her internet access despite knowing her history of making false claims — including purchasing a new cellphone for her after investigators executed a search warrant.
Blanco is charged with making a false report about planting a bomb, explosive, or weapon of mass destruction, a second-degree felony, and unlawful use of a two-way communications device, also a felony.
Blanco is currently being held at the Volusia Family Resource Center and has been turned over to the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. Additional charges are possible as the investigation continues.
The sheriff’s office is also investigating numerous false reports believed to be linked to Blanco dating back to October 2025, while detectives assist multiple agencies with similar swatting incidents targeting schools and residents across several jurisdictions.
Sheriff Rick Staly told News 6 the investigation required roughly 300 hours of investigative work, a figure he said does not include the time deputies spent responding to schools when threats were reported.
“When that comes in,” Staly said of a school threat, “it triggers an immediate response.”
A student remembers fearing the threat was real
For students inside the schools, investigators later determining a threat was false did not erase the fear created during the response.
Jayden Grimes, an 18-year-old Flagler Palm Coast High School student, told News 6 he remembers being at lunch when police suddenly rushed into the school and students were told they were under lockdown.
Grimes said students moved into a back room while officers responded.
“I’m fearing for my life here,” he recalled thinking.
He said seeing armed officers throughout the school made the situation feel even more real.
Grimes told News 6 he hoped the situation would turn out to be a prank but did not know that while the response was unfolding.
Later, after learning investigators believed FortifyFL had been misused to generate false threats, Grimes described the impact he saw on classmates.
“We were fearing for our lives that day,” Grimes said. “I saw so many kids crying, calling their parents, saying, thinking that this was gonna be their last day.”
He said it was difficult to understand how a system intended to protect students could allegedly be used to frighten them instead.
Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.
