OHS student arrested for threatening text
Published 5:27 pm Saturday, August 27, 2016
An Oxford High School student has been arrested as a result of last week’s threatening text message that caused a soft lockout of schools in the district, according to the Oxford Police Department.
A male student was arrested Wednesday and charged with threat of violence, according to OPD. Since the suspect is a juvenile, the school nor law enforcement released his name Friday.
A threatening text message was received by the assistant principal of Oxford High School on Aug. 19, although the text did not target a particular individual, Harvey said last week.
“The threat said something would happen after school was dismissed,” Harvey said.
The Oxford High School’s newspaper, The Charger, credits school resource officers Harper Thomas and Mario Weekly with helping to identify the suspect.
“The student has been suspended and is awaiting a disciplinary hearing,” Harvey said Friday.
The student was released to the custody of his parents following the arrest and is awaiting a hearing in Lafayette County Youth Court.
Oxford Police Chief Joey East said any determination as to whether the suspect would be charged as an adult would be made through the Youth Court.
Last week Harvey said the text was sent through a computer or some kind of app that changes the phone number the text was received from, making it difficult to track down the suspect. The phone number that showed up as from where the text was sent did not exist, he said.
After the text message was received, all district schools were put on a soft lockdown for about 30 minutes toward the end of the school day. Students were dismissed close to their regular time; although parents picking up their children had to wait about 20 minutes longer than usual. All students were removed from all campuses for the remainder of the day.
East said a soft lockdown, or sometimes called lockout, is when no one is allowed to enter the schools and the students are removed from campus by their respective buses or parents. A hard lockdown is when the students are retained on campus in a safe area until the threat is gone and no one is allowed to enter the school.
East said another soft lockdown occurred earlier last week when police received a call about a man walking near Highway 30 and Molly Barr Road and was reportedly cutting himself. No direct threat was made in that case.
“There were schools in the area so we took precaution,” East said.
The student could face expulsion, according to Harvey.