12-Year-Old Boy Faces Felony Charge For Sending Threatening Message
A disturbing Social Media message, flagged by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) agents in Midland Thursday, came close to closing down Lamesa schools today and led to the apprehension of a minor accused of sending it.
Within a few hours of local officials being notified about the message, Lamesa Police Department (LPD) officers apprehended a 12-year-boy. He faces a felony charge of terroristic threat. The Dawson County Juvenile Probation Department was contacted and the juvenile was transported to the Lubbock County Juvenile Justice Center, according to a press release issued by LPD Chief Josh Peterson Friday morning.
“Obviously, we took it seriously. If the person was not in custody today, I would have canceled school today,” School Superintendent David Ritchey said this morning.
The boy’s name was not being released since he is a minor.
The message, posted on Tik Tok, said “I know where you go to school. I am going to shoot up your school.”
The message didn’t directly target specific Lamesa schools, the school district or other schools within Dawson County.
“I don’t think it was sent to a specific person. It didn’t say Lamesa ISD (Independent School District),” Ritchey said. “It was sent from an IP address. The person and the IP address was not the same. They had to figure out who the Social Media account belonged to.”
FBI agents notified LPD investigators and a School Resource Officer (SRO) about uncovering the message sent somewhere within the Lamesa city limits.
SROs are licensed peace officers, commissioned by LPD but employed by the school district. The school district has five SROs with one stationed on each of the district’s four campuses and their supervisor.
Ritchey learned about the threat from an SRO after 5:30 p.m., Thursday. By approximately 6:20 p.m., LPD officers had the juvenile in custody.
“In a couple of hours, they had him in custody,” Ritchey said. “They caught him and he is in custody as of right now.”
Ritchey would not say whether the juvenile attends school here.
“The quick action and sharing of information between Lamesa ISD Administration, PD (Police Department) SROs and detectives brought this situation to a quick and decisive close,” Peterson said in his emailed press release. “There is no active threat to any school campus at this time.”
Ritchey posted a notice Thursday on the district’s Facebook page informing parents and the public about the situation and the juvenile’s apprehension. In it, he thanked the police department and SRO for their “professionalism and rapid response, ensuring the safety of our schools and community.”
“It was a bad situation that got fixed pretty quickly,” Ritchey said.