Juvenile arrested after threatening middle school shooting and bombing

Jon Johnson Photo/Gila Herald:

Jon Johnson File Photo/Gila Herald: A Safford Middle School student was arrested after reportedly making threats to shoot fellow students and bomb the school.

By Jon Johnson

jonjohnsonnews@gmail.com

SAFFORD – A juvenile student at Safford Middle School was taken into custody Thursday after he allegedly made threats online about shooting fellow students and detonating bombs at the school. 

According to a Safford Police Department news release, the school resource officer and others responded to Safford Middle School on Thursday regarding the threats. 

The suspect student reportedly told another student that they wanted to shoot students they didn’t like and place bombs around the school to injure teachers and other staff members. The threats were disseminated via social media, according to the release. 

The suspect did not have access to any weapons at the time the threats were made and after questioning was placed under arrest and charged with making a terrorist threat, false reporting of terrorism, interference with or disruption of an educational institution, and threatening. 

The juvenile suspect was transported to Florence to be held in a juvenile detention facility awaiting adjudication.