JEFFERSON COUNTY 鈥 A juvenile has been charged with threatening a school on social media, adding to the growing list of such cases St. 亚洲无码-area schools have faced over the last month.
Jefferson County Sheriff鈥檚 Office said Friday the juvenile had been detained and charged with a felony count of making a terrorist threat after threatening to shoot up Ridgewood Middle in the Fox School District on Sept. 17.
Investigators were tipped off to the threat after a student reported it to police who, with the FBI, traced the post to a social media account. It belonged to the student who had reported the threat, police said.
鈥淲e will continue to investigate these cases to the fullest and hold those responsible accountable for their actions,鈥 Undersheriff Tim Whitney said in a news release. 鈥淢ake no mistake: school threats are not a joke.鈥
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Last month, over 30 schools received threats against their campuses.
Most were fake, with the exception of one 鈥 a former Ritenour student who brought a loaded Glock to the district鈥檚 alternative school. The teenager was charged and so were his parents.
Other teens have been arrested and charged for making threats against schools including Normandy High, Hazelwood East High and Ritenour High, among others.
School and law enforcement officials throughout the region have bemoaned the loss of time and resources spent on chasing down these often fake threats, as well as the emotional toll it takes on students as the threats must be taken seriously regardless.
鈥淣ot only did this hoax require more than 40 man-hours to investigate, which pulled deputies and detectives away from patrols and legitimate cases, it also caused the school to go on lockdown, which disturbed the learning environment and caused fear and panic among students, parents, faculty, and staff,鈥 the Jefferson County Sheriff鈥檚 office said in the release.
Safety threats, for the most part, have gone down in more recent weeks. But things aren鈥檛 quite yet back to normal.
On Wednesday, a 16-year-old boy at Ritenour鈥檚 alternative school was arrested after authorities found him with a stolen gun. The boy had told a school resource officer he needed it for protection.
This story has been updated with the name of the school threatened.