MANSFIELD — A 13-year-old boy was arrested and charged with inducing panic on Wednesday in connection with a school shooting threat against Madison Middle School.
The Richland County Sheriff’s Office arrested the teen after the principal of Madison Middle School received an email from an anonymous account early Wednesday morning.
The email stated the sender had a gun and was going to “shoot up” the school,” according to an incident report from the RCSO.
Madison Local Schools Supt. Rob Peterson said the district involved the sheriff’s department “right away” and put the middle school on a soft lockdown out of an abundance of caution.
Local law enforcement later determined the threatening email came from a Madison middle school student. Peterson said the student has been recommended for expulsion.
“The safety of our students and our staff is our highest priority,” he said. “Anytime there’s any kind of safety concerns like this, we take it very seriously. We do not tolerate these things.”
RCSO Capt. Jim Sweat said the county is pursuing felony charges against the student. He also said there’s no evidence to date the student had plans to carry out his threats. However, the investigation is ongoing.
“Nothing in our investigation at this point leads us to believe that he had either the intention or the ability to move forward,” Sweat said.
According to the RCSO report, the suspect attends Madison Middle School. He told officers he typed out the email because he was upset and doesn’t like school, but he didn’t mean to send it.
“(The suspect) advised he did not mean what he typed and advised he was not like that and advised he would never hurt anyone,” the report stated.
Sweat told Richland Source on Wednesday that the suspect was being held at the Richland County Juvenile Detention Facility.
Threat came less than 24 hours after a false alarm
The threat came less than 24 hours after Madison Local Schools posted on its Facebook account that the RCSO has investigated a social media post with a threat towards an unspecified “Madison” school.
Law enforcement later determined the threat was not credible and was directed towards a school in Madison County, Ohio, according to the Tuesday night post.
“(Tuesday) night, there was a social media post that began circulating amongst some of our students and how it got to them I don’t know,” Peterson said. “It’s been a busy 24 hours.”
Threats reflects national trend after school shooting in Georgia
Madison wasn’t the only local school concerned about threats of violence this week.
A 15-year-old male was arrested Tuesday and charged with making terroristic threats towards Mansfield Senior High School.
In Ashland County, Ashland City Schools received calls from concerned parents earlier this week regarding screenshots of a threat. Local law enforcement determined the threat was made towards a school district in Ashland, Ky.
“Ashland City Schools and Ashland Police Department have looked into this and there is no substantiated information, evidence, or threat to any Ashland City School facility, students, or staff members,” Supt. Steve Paramore said in an automated message to families.
“We will remain vigilant to keep Ashland City Schools safe today and everyday.”
Local CBS news station WOWK reported a 12-year-old girl was arrested in Lawrence County, Ohio, in connection to the threat.
News outlets from several states have reported on recent school threats in the wake of a school shooting in Winder, Ga., last week.
WXIA-TV, an NBC affiliate station in Atlanta, reported more than 30 teens across north Georgia have been charged with making threats in the week and a half since the shooting.
Similar threats have cropped up from students in Florida and Texas, according to USA Today.
“We preach to our students the importance of not doing things like this. Whether you mean it or not, it’s just not appropriate,” Peterson said.
“All it takes is one or two students to not understand the seriousness of it and make comments like that. It can create fear amongst the students, their parents, the staff and it just takes up a lot of time when you should be spending that time focusing on the education.”
Sweat said it’s frustrating to see the trauma and uncertainty these threats include on students and parents.
“It’s shameful,” he said. “Unfortunately, these come in waves and it seems that once one happens, we get many more in a cluster. That’s unfortunate because I think one plants the seed for the next.”