KENMORE, Wash. — A 16-year-old student at Kenmore’s Inglemoor High School was arrested for threats about “shooting up the school” police said he made back in June.
He now faces jail time.
This particular threat was made over Instagram, but it's no secret due to the continuously rising popularity of social media people are using more threatening language online. The King County Sheriff's Office said whether or not the threats seem credible, they are going to pursue those cases.
As the second day of classes at Inglemoor High School came to a close, news of the arrest broke—where else, but on social media.
That’s also where junior Ruben Carias and his friends learned about the threat to “shoot up the school” last June.
“I was looking on social media and I saw it and I said, well, I was kind of like scared at first, so I started texting a bunch of people and friends and they were like freaking out,” Ruben remembered.
The Instagram threat shut down Inglemoor for a day; Ruben opted to stay home an extra day.
“If it was real, I could have died, man,” Ruben explained.
But unfortunately the teens said they’ve seen this before and will probably see it again.
“Most of it is definitely just fluff and people just saying things just because,” said senior Luke Garey.
Sergeant Cindi West with the King County Sheriff’s Office said sometimes, though, it’s not fluff. Allen Ivanov—the teen charged with murdering three other teens at a Mukilteo house party in July—posted ominous and threatening statements on social media before the shooting. And West said even when it is a prank, it’s still a crime.
“This is not something we are just going to let go,” West told us.
We checked—in recent years there have been at least three arrests for felony harassment—i.e., school threats—in western Washington. Most of the students, including the one at Inglemoor, said the threats were empty.
“Based on the information we have, we don’t believe he intended to do any harm. In fact, from his own statements, he thought it was fun, thought it was a prank and may even have done it as a way to get out of school for the day.”
There was nothing fun about missing class for Ruben and his friends; he’s grateful police investigate every threat.
“You can never know with these kind of things, especially on social media,” Ruben concluded.
We asked the King County prosecutor and if convicted of felony harassment, the teen could serve up to 30 days in jail.
Cox Media Group
