A Fox High School student who allegedly sent text messages to friends saying he planned to take weapons to school has been arrested, and Fox C-6 School District administrators said students did what they were supposed to do to help keep their school safe.
At about 4:30 p.m. Thursday (Feb. 15), Arnold Police learned about the text messages the student – a 16-year-old male from Arnold – allegedly sent earlier that day, and within two hours the teen was in custody, Detective Lt. James Jones said.
In the messages, the teen allegedly told other students that they might want to play sick and stay home on Tue., Feb. 20, because he planned to bring guns or possibly explosives to school, Jones said.
A short time later, Arnold Police had reviewed the messages and found the teen at his home, Jones said.
“We brought in him, his mother and a juvenile officer, and he admitted to the threats. He said he did it for attention and wasn’t planning to carry out the threat,” Jones said.
He said police searched the student’s home and found no guns or explosives.
Jones said police don’t believe Fox High students were in real danger from the teen, but they treated the alleged threat very seriously.
“In today’s society, especially after (the school shooting that) happened in Florida (on Wednesday), we take everything serious,” Jones said.
The teen was arrested for making a terroristic threat and was turned over to juvenile authorities, Jones said.
He said today (Feb. 16) that he believes the teen is still in custody.
Jones said Arnold Police have extra officers at Fox High today.
He said Arnold Police also contacted the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office about the alleged threat so they could take extra precautions at Seckman High School if necessary.
Jones said there were rumors at Fox High about another student who allegedly made a similar threat on social media, but that student ended up being from another state and didn’t pose a threat to Fox students.
Fox Superintendent Jim Wipke said students let a teacher know about the threat, which led to a quick resolution Thursday night.
“The threat has been taken care of. I can’t stress that enough,” Wipke said. “Students let us know so we could do our job. Everything went right, except we can’t control what happens on social media.”
Although Arnold Police Chief Bob Shockey called Wipke about 9 p.m. Thursday to tell him the situation was taken care of, social media was spreading rumors and falsehoods throughout the Fox community, Wipke said.
“The rumor mill started spinning unbeknownst to us and kids were falsely tagged with doing this or that, even posting a picture of a student who was from another state,” he said.
As a result, some parents did not send their children to school today, he said.
To allay parents’ fears, Fox High principal Ryan Sherp sent a letter to parents to inform them that “authorities identified the individual responsible and took appropriate action.”
“As such, we have been advised to continue our school day as normal,” the letter continued.
Wipke said that since the incident followed so close to the shooting in Florida, people’s fears were understandably heightened.
“Parents hand us their most prized possessions every day to provide them with a quality education,” he said. “We can never be too safe. Safety is our first priority.”
Wipke said despite the initial panic, he believes the response to the incident was a success.
“Our students did exactly what they were taught to do, and we hope parents will continue to communicate with their children that they should tell us about even a small incident. We will investigate all situations,” Wipke said.