A local 15-year-old male student has been charged for threatening a school shooting, according to the Owensboro Police Department.
According to OPD, a School Resource Officer was alerted Monday morning to a social media post “threatening a school shooting, specifically mentioning Owensboro Middle School, Emerson Academy, and Innovation Middle School, before the start of the school day.”
According to a release, OPD deployed additional patrol officers to these schools as a precautionary measure while the OPD Criminal Investigations Division (CID) worked to assess the origins and credibility of the threat.
According to OPD, detectives identified and charged a 15-year-old male student from Owensboro Middle School with second-degree terroristic threatening. The juvenile has been transported to the Warren County Regional Juvenile Detention Center.
Owensboro Public Schools Public Information Officer Jared Revlett said the incident was handled quickly.
“Thanks to a student who reported a concerning image to their parent, this morning, OPS was notified of the threat and immediately contacted OPD for their assistance in providing additional support at our schools this morning. With the diligent work of OPD, they were able to quickly identify the originator of the post and charge them accordingly,” Revlett said. “As we have said, we take these matters as if they are legitimate and will continue to file the necessary charges to those who disrupt the educational process with these very serious threats.”
