Southern Boone Middle School student arrested, accused of making terroristic threat

ASHLAND, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Southern Boone Middle School student was arrested Friday afternoon on suspicion of making a terroristic threat, a social media post from the Ashland Police Department says.

Police wrote in the past that it was “made aware of an Instagram account with content interpreted to be threatening and harassing to some SBS students, some of them by name.”

According to Ashland Police Chief Scott Young, police were made aware of the threat on Wednesday by the school.

Young said the department worked along with the school district and the Boone County Sheriff’s Office Cyber Crimes Task Force to identify the suspect, which led to Friday's arrest. He said the investigation took multiple days due to them having to go through multiple platforms, including Google and Instagram.

Young said students who were named in the threat have been notified.

This is the third youth at the middle school arrested in the past week for making threats. However, police say Friday’s arrest is not connected the arrests made on Monday and last week Friday. Monday’s arrest had led to classes on Tuesday being canceled.

"Today, September 20th 2024, at approximately 3:00pm a juvenile suspect was located and taken into custody at the Southern Boone Middle School. A charge of 1st Degree Making a Terrorist Threat has been requested. Juvenile criminal procedures are regulated by Missouri State Law and the release of any further details about the suspect’s identity or status is prohibited,” the post says. “We do not have evidence that leads us to believe this threat is connected to the previous incidents on 9/13 or 9/16.”

The Southern Boone School District also acknowledged the arrest in a letter on its website.

The juvenile involved in last Friday's alleged threat was arrested for making a terrorist threat. Wednesday's suspect was arrested for fourth degree assault, previous reporting indicates.

According to Boone County Prosecutor Roger Johnson, juveniles involved in making terroristic threats can be charged differently depending on the individual's intentions in making the threat.

"It's not necessarily what they say that makes a different level," Johnson said. "It's what their intention is and so, if you're intending on frightening people, if that's why you're doing it...if you're trying to frighten more than ten more or more people or you're trying to get a building evacuated, that would be first degree."

Johnson said a lesser charge of second-degree making a terrorist threat would indicate a person was reckless in causing the evacuation of a building after making the threat.

Johnson also noted an individual can be charged additionally, if it was found they took steps to carry out the threat. For example, Johnson said if someone threatens to shoot people inside of a building and law enforcement is able to find evidence that the person worked to carry that out, they could face additional offenses.

That would include assault charges or armed criminal action, both of which can be serious felonies, according to Johnson.

"The reality nowadays is that you have to take all these kind of threats seriously and the statute allows law enforcement to take action before somebody is actually harmed," Johnson said.

According to Young, the department received some tips regarding Friday's threat. However he says he does not believe a QR code designed for people to to send screenshots and digital files related to police investigations played a large role in Friday's arrest.

A letter to parents written by the district asks that parents talk with their children about the consequences of sharing posts on social media that can be viewed as threatening, something Young said he would like to emphasize, as well.

Young said he recommends parents monitor their child's social media accounts and said the department never hopes to investigate these sort of things.

"There's certain types of human behavior that's less than optimum that we understand you know, kids do kids stuff and all that we understand all that.. but this is not something we should have to deal with," Young said.

Young said the department had more officers staged at the middle school following the prior threats. He also said an event held at the school earlier in the week had an increased police presence, but did not describe it.

He said as of Friday night, police were not aware of any pending threats.