Three 16-year-old South Lyon East High School students are facing charges for allegedly making school threats in social media posts.
As announced Wednesday by Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald, two of the students are charged with false report or threats of terrorism — punishable by up to 20 years in prison. The other is charged with intentional threats to commit an act of violence against school, school employee or students — a one-year misdemeanor.
The charges stem from three social media posts from Sept. 8, according to the prosecutor’s office. The next day, a student reportedly shared a screenshot of the post which stated “[G]uys imma shoot up the school tomorrow,” the prosecutor’s office said. The teacher then reported the post to the school administration.
An investigation turned up two additional posts in the same group chat stating “I’m going to blow up the school,” according to the prosecutor’s office.
The three students were arrested Monday and held until arraignment Wednesday before a referee in Oakland County Juvenile Court. Two are currently in Children’s Village and the other was released to his parents’ custody. He’s confined to his home and prohibited from using social media or having any contact with the school.
Two of the cases are being transferred to Washtenaw County where the students live. In the other case, the student lives in South Lyon and is to return to court on Oct. 3.
“Parents and kids should feel safe at school,” McDonald stated in a news release. “These threats directly impact students, teachers, and staff, and they also undermine our entire community’s confidence in the safety of our schools. It’s not a joke, and the charges we issued will ensure that these students face appropriate consequences.”
At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said threats against schools will not be tolerated.
“If you make a threat against a school — whether it’s something you intend to carry out or you think it’s a joke — in either category it’s a crime,” Bouchard said. “It will be investigated and we will seek charges with the prosecutor. A threat against a school is terrifying to many people, especially given the environment that we’re currently living in. It is a crime.”
Deputies learned there were firearms in the home of the student who allegedly threatened to “shoot up the school,” Bouchard said. Those firearms were secured and the owner did not offer to give them to police, he said.
‘Incredibly disturbing’
Sheriff’s deputies responded to several complaints about school threats over the past five days, Bouchard said. Tips arrived by various means — either directly from a student, from an adult the student confided in or via the statewide OK2Say program which allows people to report concerns anonymously.
Bouchard also said it was “completely unacceptable” to tolerate threats against schools and “incredibly disturbing” that society has “somehow normalized” making such threats.
Besides the South Lyon East High School cases, one of the other threat-related complaints deputies responded to this past week involved a Sept. 6 report that a 13-year-old Pontiac Middle School student allegedly threatened to shoot two classmates. The teen was removed from school, Bouchard said, after police confirmed there were no firearms in his home. On the same day in Orion Township, police were alerted to a social media post by a former student — now a young adult — who wrote about being thankful for not committing a violent act while in school. Detectives determined there was no credible or direct threat. And multiple tips on Sept. 8 led deputies to investigate an Independence Township child in connection with a possible threat via social media against Clarkston Junior High School but, again, detectives determined there was no credible threat.
Bouchard among the reasons his office asked for charges in connection with the South Lyon alleged threats was because of situations like the Sept. 5 shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia, where two students and two teachers were killed. Law enforcement had reportedly visited the alleged shooter’s home months earlier to investigate online threats linked to his email address.
Bouchard urges parents to take an active role to help prevent school shootings by:
• Locking up any firearms kept in the home.
• Watching or changes in a child’s behavior, language, social or sports activity, or clothing choices. Sudden or extreme changes can indicate depression or other mental health challenges, thoughts of suicide or the effects of bullying. Provide support, either through therapy or by talking to teachers, school counselors or school resource officers about how to help the child.
• Talking to children about school threats and what they can do to help prevent violence.
Bouchard said regardless of the outcome for the three South Lyon students charged, he will continue to pursue charges for any future threats.