Massachusetts

12-Year-Old Arrested for Threatening to ‘Shoot Up' Methuen School: PD

The threats were made in the form of a comment on Tenney Grammar School's Instagram acount

What to Know

  • Threats of a shooting and targeting a specific employee were posted to Tenney Grammar School's Instagram accounts, police said.
  • Authorities tracked the threat to a 12-year-old Methuen, Massachusetts boy. The tween was arrested and charged before being released.
  • The boy, whose name has not been released, is expected to appear Tuesday at Lawrence Juvenile Court.

A 12-year-old boy was arrested Monday for allegedly posting threats on Instagram to "shoot up" a Methuen, Massachusetts school.

The threats came in the form of a reply to the Tenney Grammar School’s Instagram account, according to the Methuen Police Department. In addition to threatening the school, the boy also referenced a specific employee as a target, police say.

The school’s principal alerted authorities of the threat immediately after seeing it on Instagram. Authorities were able to track down the owner of the account with the menacing reply and arrested the tween.

"The posts were in regards to doing damage, to hurting people and to shooting up the school," Methuen Police Department Captain Jim Jajuga Jr. said. "We don’t want to go into any more specifics than that."

Police searched the 12-year-old’s home and found there were no weapons on the property.

Extra patrol will be available Tuesday at the school following the threat, officials said.

The tween, whose name has not been released, was arrested and charged with making threats to a school and threatening to commit murder. He was later released into the custody of his mother, according to police.

The 12-year-old is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday at Lawrence Juvenile Court. It is unclear if he has an attorney.

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