HENRICO, Va. – A teen was arrested after a bomb threat was left at Glen Allen High School on Wednesday, making him the second student to face charges after a rash of threats were made at local schools in October.
A handwritten note was found in a restroom, and officials said that alleged threats against the school and students. All students were evacuated from the school, the building was screened by law enforcement personnel, and it was determined that no threat was present.
Students were released back into the school where the day continued as scheduled.
While investigating, officials said they found that a 14-year-old juvenile male was responsible for the incident. Based on Virginia State Code § 18.2-83, the teen could face misdemeanor charges.
There is no connection between today’s incident and any previous incidents which occurred at the high school, officials said.
The school was evacuated the day before after a message was found in the bathroom.
"They really need to find out who is doing this because this is ridiculous," Angela Donaway, a parent, said.
Both messages this week follow a rash of threatening messages discovered in schools over the past two weeks, in multiple school districts.
Earlier in October, an eighth-grader at Colonial Heights Middle School was arrested and charged with a felony for the communication of a threat on school property.
The 13-year-old male will face a Class 6 felony charge, which according to state code, is applied in crimes where a threat to kill or do bodily harm on the grounds of school property is communicated in writing, including electronic transmission.
We did some digging and found data compiled by National School Safety and Security Services which shows school threats increased 158 percent between 2013 and 2014.
The data also showed Virginia had the 11th highest number of school threats among all states.
Those are threats parents said need to stop.
"There needs to be tougher consequences," Christ Stanley, a parent, said.
Henrico County's Commonwealth's Attorney, Shannon Taylor, said she believes the way to stop these threats is understanding the perpetrator's motivations and addressing them.
"We know they are being made for a reason, and it's up to us to figure out what that reason is," Taylor said.
Taylor said her office will prosecute students if need be, but she said they will also explore any mental health issues that may be involved, especially, she said, if it turns out the same person wrote both threats.
"That would be very alarming, and it's a young person we have got to find and figure out how we can get them help," Taylor said.
