A 15-year-old Oxford High School special education student who allegedly wrote and sent on-line messages about carrying out a school shooting was charged last week with making a terrorist threat, a 20-year felony.
Oakland County Sheriff’s investigators arrested the youth without incident Oct. 29 at his home in Pontiac.
He’s currently being lodged at Children’s Village in Pontiac.
He’ll remain there until a Dec. 4 competency hearing unless his family can arrange for him to be admitted to a lockdown mental health facility, officials said. Because he’s a juvenile, the teen’s case is being handled through the Family Division of Oakland County Circuit Court.
Sheriff’s Lt. Scott Patterson said the teen, who is a schools-of-choice student, was expelled from the Oxford district following an Oct. 27 hearing before the school board.
Due to the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), Superintendent Tim Throne could not discuss the specifics of this particular student’s case.
However, the superintendent was able to say, ‘We did have a hearing and a student was expelled.?
Following a closed session, the board voted 7-0 to expel a student ‘for the remainder of the 2015-16 school year,? according to the motion.
On Oct. 15, the sheriff’s office was alerted by MeetMe.com that this OHS student had allegedly made significant threats of violence involving himself and others at his school.
MeetMe.com is an on-line social networking service based in New Hope, Pennsylvania.
The alleged threats were part of a series of private messages the student allegedly exchanged with an unknown individual Oct. 14.
MeetMe, Inc.’s legal team provided sheriff’s investigators with an 11-page report containing excerpts of the messages.
According to this report, the teen stated he was planning to kill both himself and others at his school. The school was never named in the messages because he allegedly refused to give it when asked.
One the messages attributed to the student stated, ‘I won’t kill everyone. I will let the nice ones live.? In another message, he allegedly explained his plans involved something that ‘starts with a B? and ‘something else that starts with a S.?
He also allegedly wrote, ‘Can mass murder be forgiven?? and ‘So I can go shoot up my school and say sorry and if I really mean it I can be forgiven.?
When asked by the individual he was communicating with why he wanted to do this, the teen allegedly replied, ‘I am having family issues, I get bullied and everyone hates me,? plus ‘There is nothing I am good at.?
According to Patterson, a forensic examination of the student’s iPhone confirmed it was the source of the messages.
MeetMe, Inc. provided the sheriff’s office with a profile photo associated with the account from which the messages came. It was positively identified as the OHS student.