Wednesday, April 11, 2001
SHARPSVILLE, Pa. -- Police have arrested a 14-year-old student accused of threatening over the phone to shoot one or two classmates.
Police Chief Bruce Rosa said the boy faces juvenile charges of making terroristic threats and harassment by communications.
The boy was taken into custody around 2 p.m. Tuesday and is being held in a juvenile detention facility pending a hearing.
Walter Karsonovich, high school principal, got a phone call Monday night from a parent who had heard a rumor of threats being made and that a student might bring a gun to school.
Karsonovich called police.
Interviewed students: Rosa said he interviewed about 30 students, getting different variations of the story, before making an arrest.
He said the student did threaten to shoot one or two specific students with whom he was apparently having a problem but he wasn't specific about where or when the shootings would occur.
There was never a threat to take a gun to school and randomly shoot students, he said.
Rosa said the boy had no access to any guns in his home, no gun was taken into any school and no weapon was ever displayed.
The student was brought to the police station Tuesday afternoon by family members, Rosa said.