Northwest Superintendent Paul Ziegler said he doesn’t believe the high school senior arrested Tuesday (May 6) for allegedly writing threatening messages in a boy’s restroom stall intended to follow through with those threats.
Ziegler said the 18-year-old male student wrote threats against specific high school staff, primarily administrators, on a door and wall in the boy’s restroom.
“It was threatening violence for today (May 7),” Ziegler said.
He said specific staff members were named in the threats.
However, Ziegler would not say exactly what the threats were.
“My understanding, based on what the people who talked to him said, is there was no indication that he had taken steps toward doing any of the things mentioned (in the threats),” Ziegler said.
The Sheriff’s Office reported that the student made threats of violence against four staff members and threatened to bring a firearm to school.
When deputies interviewed the student, he told them “he wrote the threats in the restroom because he was bored,” the report said.
At about 8:40 a.m. Tuesday, not long after the threats were written, another student saw them and reported them to the high school principal, Brad Snell, Ziegler said.
Coincidentally, Ziegler was in the high school office at the time.
He said it didn’t take long to find the culprit because the school’s surveillance cameras showed the student go into the restroom around the time the message would have been written.
In addition, the student was in the restroom longer than normal, Ziegler said.
“We were able to pinpoint when it happened and we could see the person who was in there at that time,” Ziegler said. “Within an hour, we had the student and he confessed and was taken into custody.
“Obviously, the student made a bad decision, but a lot also happened right,” Ziegler said. “We had a student who came forward and told us immediately (about the threat), which allowed us to pinpoint when it happened, and we had the video surveillance (equipment) to find out who did it. So, that gave us the opportunity to keep the situation from being more disruptive than it was.”
The Sheriff’s Office said the surveillance showed the student enter the restroom at 8:11 a.m. and leave at 8:23 a.m.
Ziegler said the student has earned enough credits to graduate, but he won’t be allowed to participate in the graduation ceremony or other activities leading up to it.
“One thing I said to the prosecuting attorney was I don’t want this to run the student’s life,” Ziegler said. “But, when a student makes a poor decision, there has to be consequences.”
Not only is the student facing school disciplinary action, the Sheriff’s Office is seeking criminal charges against the suspect through the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
“I just hope the legal punishment won’t ruin his life,” Ziegler said.
The messages, which appeared to be written in magic marker, have been removed, Ziegler said this afternoon.
The threat follows vandalism at three Northwest R-1 schools – Murphy Elementary, Brennan Woods and Woodridge Middle School over the weekend, when building walls were spray-painted and the playground at Murphy Elementary was burned.
Northwest R-1 spokeswoman Katie Cothron said the two incidents are unrelated.
School administrators and the Sheriff’s Office are working together to investigate the vandalism case.
“Since there is some confusion about the two unrelated matters, the Northwest School District would like to share details of both with our parents, students, staff and community,” Cothron said in the statement.
A letter was to be sent home with students this afternoon.
Anyone with information about either case is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office tip line at 636-797-5515.