A 17-year old Kent Roosevelt student is confirmed to have made a “vague” threat to the high school in a Snapchat post late Tuesday, as written in a news release from Michael Lewis, an administrative lieutenant with the Kent Police Department.
The suspect was charged with a second-degree felony of “Inducing Panic,” and his family is “cooperating with Kent Police,” according to the release.
He was taken into custody Thursday morning.
This portion of the article was originally published Nov. 15.
Students and staff at Kent Roosevelt High School did not attend school Wednesday after a threat was made on social media.
Lewis said an investigation is ongoing over a “vague” threat made late Tuesday evening.
The threat was made on Snapchat and led the school to cancel classes.
Lewis said it is uncertain who made the threat, and the police cannot yet confirm if the threat came from a student.
This threat comes after 18-year-old Meier Gillespie, a graduate of the high school, threatened to “blow up” Kent Roosevelt in a social media post Oct. 26. Gillespie pleaded not guilty in court Nov. 6 and is not currently in jail. A discovery hearing is set for Nov. 29.
With multiple recent threats made toward the school, Lewis said safety is the number one priority.
“We obviously want to investigate any potential threat to our kids, to our students, to any of our residents,” Lewis said. “School threats are something we take very, very seriously and anyone deemed to have been involved in making threats toward the school, at the end of our criminal investigation, there’s most likely going to be some criminal charges involved.”
After-school activities will proceed as usual for Kent Roosevelt High School students, Superintendent Tim Larkin said in an update to the community.
“K-9 units from Kent and other law enforcement agencies in our area completed a thorough sweep of TRHS today. The units did not find anything suspicious or out of the ordinary,” he said in the statement.
There will be a police presence at the school throughout the afternoon as the investigation continues.
Anthony Zacharyasz is a general assignment editor. Contact him at [email protected].