By Megan Alley
Sun staff
A sixth-grade student at Amelia Middle School was taken into police custody on March 8 for making threats on Facebook to harm another student.
The juvenile suspect, a male, is a resident of Union Township.
The late-night March 7 social media post, which included a photo of the juvenile suspect holding a gun, revealed that the juvenile suspect planned to harm another student in school the next day.
A number of concerned students told their parents about the threat, which led to an outpouring of calls to the Clermont County Sheriff’s Department; the case was turned over to the Union Township Police Department because of the juvenile suspect’s residence.
Police and officials from West Clermont Local Schools worked together to identify the juvenile suspect, who was taken into custody and interviewed around 12 a.m.
“Basically, what the investigation reveals was this juvenile suspect had utilized a social media site through Facebook called Facebook Messenger, and made posts to a group message which included other students from Amelia Middle School,” said Ken Mullis, detective for the police department. “At some point, a disagreement ensued during these messages, which resulted in the juvenile suspect posting a photo of himself holding an airsoft gun; he had painted the orange tip cover to give it a realistic appearance, making everyone believe that it was a real gun when in fact it wasn’t.”
He added, “Shortly after that post with the photo, there were additional comments threatening harm to another student that was involved in the post.”
The police contacted school district officials early on March 8 to tell them that there was no threat to the students and staff at Amelia Middle School.
“It’s really important for people to know that this kid was brought into the police at midnight, he was interviewed and the police found that there was no threat to any students or staff at the school,” said Debbie Alberico, communications consultant. “We opened school because we had that information.”
She added, “Safety is our top priority in the school district, and once we know it’s safe, then we go ahead and open.”
The juvenile suspect was charged with a first-degree misdemeanor of inducing panic and he was taken to the Clermont County Juvenile Detention Center where he was held. He had a detention hearing on March 8.
The case is “still fluid,” according to Mullis, and the department is obtaining statements from students with knowledge of the situation.
“Ultimately, these posts created such a public concern that the attendance at Amelia Middle School was horrible,” Mullis said.
He estimated the school had 119 absences and an additional 75 students were signed out of school early, because of parent concern.
The juvenile suspect could also face school discipline.
“The fact that a threat was made would be something we’d follow up with discipline,” Alberico said. “He will be given appropriate disciple measure according to board policy.”
Mullis praised the community for their help with the case.
“It was handled extremely quickly. We had cooperation between the sheriff’s department, the Union Township Police Department, both communication centers and the school district,” he said. “And, thankfully, the parents were mindful to catch wind of this and report it. It goes along with that theory of ‘see something, say something’ or ‘hear something, say something.’”
He added, “By us getting that several hours heads up before school started, we were able to act on it a lot quicker than trying to rush things in the morning.”