A 15-year-old male student is being charged for posting a photo to social media with a threat to use a firearm at Nimitz High School in Irving.
The charge is a misdemeanor, but it shows that the Irving Police Department takes these online threats seriously and so should the public.
“We want people to say something when they see something,” said Irving police spokesman Robert Reeves.
According to Reeves, another classmate had sent the photograph that showed a rifle round and a grenade to the charged teen. The 15-year-old edited the photo to add the warning text "u next — don’t u come to school tmr" and posted it to social media.
During the investigation, Police determined the grenade in the photo was actually a car gear shifter.
The news about the terroristic threat caused panic in some of the parents. Some where upset that the school did not notify them immediately as to the threat. As students began calling their parents, many decided to pick up their students early.
“Terroristic threat is the same thing as saying fire in a movie theatre and causing people to be alarmed,” said Officer Reeves. “People were pulling their kids out of school [Monday] so the community was definitely alarmed by the actions of these young men.”
Reeves said that police had added additional security at Nimitz since Monday.
“There is no continued threat to Nimitz High School or any other Irving ISD school,” said Reeves.
