Teen posts video threatening to shoot up her Michigan high school, officials say
A 17-year-old Michigan student has been charged with threatening to shoot up her school, Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said in a release.
The release said the Flint Southwestern Classical Academy teen was on a school bus the morning of Dec. 2 when she recorded a “rap-style” video on her phone threatening to shoot up her school, “like Oxford.” The video was then posted to social media, and an assistant principal notified police.
The Flint student is being charged with one count of terrorism and one count of use of a computer to commit a crime, the release said. Each one is a 20-year felony.
Four students were killed and 11 were injured on Nov. 30 after a 15-year-old opened fire at Oxford High School, also in Michigan.
“My message to our community has been loud and clear over the years whenever we have had instances of so-called ‘copycat threats’ following a school shooting or other mass shooting incidents around the country and that message is that it is not a joke, it is a crime and it will be treated as such,” Leyton said in the release. “I’m not going to try to figure out whether this incident in Flint today was intended to be a joke or whether it was a credible threat, the bottom line is that it’s a crime.”
Leyton said students who make these threats will not only face punishment from their school, but from the law as well.
“Not only do students face possible suspension and expulsion from school but they will face prosecution by my office and that is no joke,” Leyton said. “I want parents to hear this message and, I want them to have a serious discussion of this matter with their kids.”
Oxford High School and Flint Southwestern Classical Academy are 35 miles apart.
“Oxford is not that far from Genesee County and my heart goes out to the families of the victims, the school and the entire Oxford community,” Leyton said. “This one has hit especially close to home and I want my message to get out there to every home in Genesee County.”
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