A 15-year-old was arrested Tuesday night on two felony charges for allegedly threatening to harm other students at Elbert School in the town of Elbert, officials said Thursday.
Deputies were notified about a possible school threat on Tuesday, according to an Elbert County Sheriff’s Office news release.
Investigations confirmed that the 15-year-old had made credible threats against peers, and the student was arrested on Tuesday, facing two felony charges, the sheriff’s office said.
Because of the student’s age and the nature of the investigation, deputies said no further information was available at this time.
“In light of the tragic situations across the nation in recent months, the Sheriff’s Office takes all threats to schools and students very seriously,” the news release said. “Parents are encouraged to talk with their children about reporting the suspicious or changing behavior of other classmates, specifically regarding threats that are being made.”
Melissa Puckett said her 15-year-old daughter and the daughter’s boyfriend heard the suspect threatening to “shoot up the school.”
When Puckett’s daughter told her mom about the situation Tuesday, Puckett immediately called the sheriff’s office.
“I don’t take that lightly at all,” Puckett said. “And neither did the sheriff’s office.”
Puckett, who has lived in Elbert for one year, said she would like to have the mentality that a school shooting wouldn’t happen in the rural community’s small school attended by kids from preschool through 12th grade.
“But you just never know,” she said. “Listen to your kids.”
Colorado officials determined in the immediate wake of a Feb. 14 shooting massacre that killed 17 people inside a Florida high school, threats of school violence were on the rise.
