Facebook threat of school shooting deemed fake; teen arrested
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Mark Morris High School in Longview, Washington. (Google Street View)
A 14-year-old Washington high school student is now behind bars after allegedly posting a fake school shooting threat on social media.
The Longview Police Department said they received multiple calls from alarmed citizens on Monday night about a potential threat of a shooting at Mark Morris High School, KPTV reports.
There were several reports to police of a post circulating widely on Snapchat and Facebook of a teen holding what looked to be a sub-compact rifle with the caption “Don’t go to school tomorrow (markmorris).”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}NJ TEEN ADMITS MAKING THREATS AMID TEXAS SCHOOL SHOOTING
The person taking the photo also appeared to be holding a pistol, according to police.
This photo on was sent to over 30 people on Snapchat as a joke. (Longview Police Department)
Longview Police took to Facebook to let the community know they were aware of the situation and that “our detectives are on it.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Both people in the picture were identified late Monday evening. The 14-year-old who took the picture and wrote the caption told police he sent the photo to at least 30 people, but it was just a joke. The student said he never intended to actually harm anyone at the school.
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Longview police arrested the boy and he now faces a charge of threatening to bomb or injure a public school.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The other boy pictured with a sub-compact rifle denied knowing about the disturbing caption placed on the photo. Both realistic-looking BB-guns were confiscated as evidence by police.
Both students and their families were cooperative with the investigation.