By Jim Newell
Managing Editor
jnewell@mihomepaper.com
ORION TWP. — A 16-year-old male student at Lake Orion High School was arrested March 4 after making a threat that many people were going to die in a shooting at the school, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said.
The student, a sophomore at the school, was taken to Oakland County Children’s Village on a charge of making a threat of violence against a school. A hearing was set for March 5 to determine next steps in the case, according to the sheriff’s office.
“Once again, we have someone who made a threat against a school and through the diligent work of our team we were able to locate and subsequently arrest him,” Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said. “Let me reiterate, if you make a threat, you will be tracked down and held to account.”
The threat was made at 3 a.m. on March 1 and stated that on March 5, an unnamed person was going to shoot up the school “and many people will die,” police said.
A 25-year-old Bloomfield Township man saw the post on social media and alerted the sheriff’s office. The man told authorities that the threat was then taken down and he could no longer access the account on which it had been posted.
Using the Sheriff’s Office Computer Crimes Unit, detectives were able to get search warrants and identify the sender of the message. It was later determined the student had no access to a firearm in his home.
Bouchard said that because of the phony threat, 490 students called in sick on March 3, 255 students did not appear for school on March 4 and 356 were missing on March 5.
On March 2, Lake Orion Community Schools Superintendent Heidi Mercer sent a letter to district families saying that district administration and police have been in contact about the threat, and reminded families about district practices surrounding safety and public concerns.
“This weekend featured yet another moment where an online message about Lake Orion High School had to be investigated by the OCSO. LOCS and the police were in contact assessing the message and working to determine its validity,” Mercer wrote. “The OCSO will continue to investigate and will provide additional support to LOHS throughout the week.”
Mercer also reminded parents to talk to their children about the severity of making such threats.
“Often, these messages are thought by teens to be humorous or a teen responding to another student over a disagreement. Regardless of the sender’s intent, each one is taken with the most serious consideration, and the consequences will follow with the same severity,” Mercer wrote.