Police: New school threat posted on social media

LA MARQUE, TX

Students tell us the threat came from an ROTC student. Police say right now there isn't enough evidence to charge the student with a crime, but he is getting help from a mental health professional.

According to La Marque police, a student at La Marque High School posted threatening comments on Facebook, saying he was going to "shoot up the school." its the second day in a row police have had to investigate such a threat.

"We started hearing from students who were sending tweets, retweeting the threat and sending emails," said Matt Lucas with Deer Park ISD.

On Thursday, Deer Park police arrested a Deer Park North Campus High School student for posting a threat on Twitter. The student, claiming to have been bullied for years, saying he would bring a gun to school and kill his tormentors and himself.

"They truly believe he just kind of spontaneously vented and made this threat and probably didn't understand the consequences of his actions," Lucas said.

In this case, the consequence was an arrest and criminal charges.

"So often people think they can say and put anything that they want to on social media. There's ramifications," said Deer Park Lt. Earl Morrison.

"Sometimes you're thinking those things, that's different. Even if you say them, that's different. But if you put them in writing, you can get into really big trouble," grandparent Vickey Roberts said.

A better and less risky way to deal with bullying, administrators say, is just to tell someone.

"It probably happens a lot more often than anyone knows, but if it's not reported, we can't respond to it," Lucas said.

Police here in La Marque say their investigation is not over, leaving the door open for criminal charges.

We tried to get a comment from the school superintendent but were told no one was available.

Find Simon on Facebook at ABC13SimonGutierrez or on Twitter at @sggutierrez

Take ABC13 with you!
Download our free apps for iPhone, iPad and Android devices

Copyright © 2024 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.