Rash of school threats investigated leads to felony charges against children as young as 9
Children as young as 9 years old were in custody Wednesday in southeast Michigan juvenile detention facilities after they allegedly spoke about violence they might commit involving schools and students.
The arrests and charges involving youths across metro Detroit were part of a rash of similar "copycat" threats being tracked nationwide, following the Nov. 30 shooting spree at Oxford High School in Oakland County. Authorities have warned students that they face serious consequences for even playfully mentioning the idea of using guns at school or otherwise causing violence.
In Waterford alone, Police Chief Scott Underwood said his officers investigated three reports of threats by students and took four children into custody, including two from an elementary school. Underwood sent a news release listing the following incidents. It stated:
"Two nine-year olds at Riverside Elementary were each in possession of a 'naughty/nice' list with several names on each, as well as the words 'alive' and 'dead' on each side of the lists. Both students were transported to police headquarters and subsequently turned over to their parents. Juvenile petitions will be submitted to the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office for review and consideration of charges.
"An eighth-grader at Pierce Middle School told another student that he brought a gun to school, and at one point made a threatening gesture with his hand, mimicking a shooting gun. The student making the threat was taken into custody and is now lodged at Oakland County Children’s Village, pending a hearing Thursday at 1:30pm.
"Administrators at Oakland Scholars Charter School made (police) aware of an eight-grader who made statements about his plan 'if I was a school shooter,' including type of gun as well as time and location. The student also made specific gestures mimicking a shooting gun. The student was taken into custody and is now lodged at Oakland County Children’s Village, pending a hearing Thursday at 1:30pm."
Also from Waterford, two Mason Middle School students, who were taken into custody earlier this week after allegedly making threats, made court appearances, the second of the two — "as with the first," according to Underwood's release — "was charged with knowingly making a false threat of terrorism, a 20-year felony.” He is to be held at Oakland County Children’s Village until his next hearing on Dec. 21.
More: In just 5 minutes, a gunman turned a normal day at Oxford High into a nightmare
"Students who think this (is) a way to be funny, or gain some kind of recognition from their classmates, are making a very big mistake (and) it is imperative that parents have a serious conversation with their children," Underwood said in the release.
In Wayne County, similar cases followed the deadly shootings at Oxford High school, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said.
"We have charged 18 youth in the last few days with crimes relating to school threats. Much has been written about these types of cases lately, yet still these serious events continue to happen," Worthy said.
On Wednesday, her office charged a 14-year-old boy from Wilson Middle School in Wyandotte, a 15-year-old boy from Central High School in Detroit, a 17-year-old girl from East English Village Preparatory Academy in Detroit and a 16-year-old boy from Martin Luther King High School, also in Detroit, with threatening violence against schools.
Worthy added that, since 2018, her office has tried to educate parents and students about the risks of such behavior, with warnings translated into five languages. She said she recently sent letters about the problem to Detroit's newspapers and other news media outlets.
"Quelling school threats is going to take the work of all of us," she said. "It is also going to take facing head-on the access our children have for guns and their fascination with them."
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Also Wednesday, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said its detectives were investigating a disturbing note found in a restroom at Stoney Creek High School in Rochester Hills. The note does not appear to constitute a credible threat, but detectives are investigating nonetheless, the Sheriff's Office said.
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Alleged school threats bring felony charges for children as young as 9
