Lake Orion High student arrested after social media post threatened violence at school
Hundreds of students were absent at least one day this week, the Oakland County Sheriff's Office said, in its report on what deputies called a "phony threat."
The student who was arrested is a sophomore. He is being held at Oakland County Children's Village, and a hearing was expected Wednesday afternoon to determine the next steps in the case.
"Once again, we have someone who made a threat against a school and through the diligent work of our team we were able to locate and subsequently arrest him," Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said in the press release. "Let me reiterate, if you make a threat, you will be tracked down and held to account."
The threat was posted on social media about 3 a.m. Saturday, deputies reported, stating that on March 5 an unarmed person was going to shoot up the school "and many people will die." Someone who saw that post alerted the sheriff's office.
In response to the situation, Bouchard said, 490 students called in sick on Monday, 255 were not in school Tuesday and 356 were not in school Wednesday. Lake Orion High School, which is on East Scripps Road, has an enrollment of about 2,000 students.
In the meantime, the sheriff's office Computer Crimes Unit was able to obtain search warrants and identify the sender of the message.
"It was later determined the student had no access to a firearm in his home," the sheriff's report said.
Lake Orion High School last held a safety and security drill on Feb. 4, according to the district's website.
The State of Michigan's OK2SAY Student Safety Program also is a resource to allow tip sharing among students, parents and school officials "about harmful behaviors that threaten to disrupt the learning environment."
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