A Blue Lake Elementary School teacher locked up over the weekend for saying he wanted to blow up a co-worker is out of jail on $5,000 bail, court records reviewed on Monday, Sept. 15 show.
Armando Arends, 65, of Orange City, was arrested Friday, Sept. 12, and charged with making a false report of a bomb.
DeLand police investigators stated that they were called to Blue Lake Elementary School on Friday, Sept. 12, at approximately 11:45 a.m. At the school, police spoke to two witnesses who said Arends told them on Sept. 9 that he wanted to put a bomb in the car of a co-worker with whom he was frustrated.
“It makes me want to put a bomb in her car that explodes her and her car into a thousand pieces,” Arends said, according to a teacher who spoke to police and was quoted in the report.
A second witness also confirmed the threats Arends made and both witnesses said Arends repeatedly made comments about his expertise in missile creation and background in bombs, police said.
Volusia County Schools released a statement that said law enforcement responded to the school on Friday afternoon after a report that a staff member “allegedly made a concerning statement directed toward an individual who was not on the campus.”
No students were threatened, and the Volusia County Schools Professional Standards Office is also investigating the matter, the statement continued. The individual arrested was a teacher who began working with the school system on Aug. 5, 2025. He was placed on leave.
State education records show there is an Armando Nicolas Arends with a “non-renewable temporary” license that is scheduled to expire June 30, 2028. His subject area is listed as “World Language – Spanish.”
According to a LinkedIn profile, Arends teaches English as a second language.
Executive Editor John Dunbar contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Teacher wanted to put bomb in co-worker’s car and blow her into ‘a thousand pieces’
Reporting by Patricio G. Balona, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
