FARMINGTON — Two Mt. Blue Middle School students and one Mt. Blue High School student were charged Wednesday with terrorizing in connection with the case of a student who threatened “to shoot up the school” on Tuesday.
Police issued a summons to a 12-year-old boy from Farmington and a 14-year-old boy from Chesterville on a charge of terrorizing, Regional School Unit 9 Resource Officer Bridgette Gilbert said Thursday.
A group of kids was talking at the middle school Wednesday, and there was a verbal indication by two of them that they would have helped the 13-year-old who threatened to shoot up the school if he went through with it, Farmington Deputy Police Chief Shane Cote said Thursday.
A 15-year-old Industry boy accused of communicating a threat on a school bus Wednesday was arrested on a charge of terrorizing, Franklin County Sheriff Scott Nichols Sr. said Thursday.
The call initially went to the Farmington Police Department, but when it was learned it was in Industry, the information was turned over to the sheriff’s office.
Sgt. Matthew Brann and Deputy Brian McCormick took the student into custody and met with the boy’s parent and Juvenile Communications Corrections Officer Joan Dawson at her office in Farmington, Nichols said.
Following that meeting, the student was released with conditions to his parent, Nichols said.
A boy, 13, of Farmington was arrested Tuesday after a teacher overheard him threaten to “shoot up the school,” authorities previously said. The teacher told the principal who then talked to the student.
The incident happened at the end of the school day. A guardian picked up the student.
Farmington police were called in and Gilbert, also a Farmington police officer, and Cote went to the guardian’s home to talk to the student and guardian.
He was released on conditions to the guardian. He is under house arrest and only allowed out if an adult is with him, Cote said.
The student was suspended from school for 10 days and was to undergo a risk assessment, Superintendent Tom Ward said Tuesday.
In the other cases, the two middle school students were each suspended for five days, Ward said, and the high school student was suspended for 10 days.
Ward said officials could make out what was being said on the surveillance video recording system on the bus, but he declined to say what the threat was.
The cases will be handled in Juvenile Court.
Ward posted a message on the district’s website www.mtbluersd.org on Wednesday to notify parents that district representatives have been meeting with staff and students emphasizing that “we want any and all comments/threats reported regardless of how serious they think they are.”
“We have been getting great cooperation,” Ward wrote. “As a result we have been following up with police on each concern and the result has led to two students receiving summons and a third being arrested. None of these were considered to be an immediate (imminent) danger. So there was no need to take any action in the school day. Our goal is to make students aware that you have to be careful what you say. Using the excuse that you were joking or didn’t mean it is not acceptable. Please know that student, school and staff safety are of the utmost priority at all times.”
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