A Bucks County school closed for the day after a student threatened a school shooting
The threat was first reported Sunday night about 10 p.m., according to the Bristol Borough School District. A student was taken into custody and being held at the county detention center.
Bristol Junior-Senior High School was closed Monday after a student was arrested for allegedly threatening to “shoot up the school,” police and district officials said.
The student — whose name was not released by police because he is a juvenile — was taken into custody at his home in the Bucks County borough about 1:30 a.m., according to Bristol Borough Police Sgt. Joe Moors. He will be charged with terroristic threats and disorderly conduct and remained in custody Monday at the Bucks County Juvenile Detention Center.
Police departments and school districts are on increased alert for threats such as these in the wake of the last week’s shooting in Oxford Township, Mich., where 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley is accused of killing four classmates with a handgun.
“Obviously we take all threats seriously, and we handled it right away, and we’re thankful that this was a good outcome,” Moors said. The department’s investigation revealed that the Bristol student had no access to a firearm, he added.
Still, the building closed Monday “out of an abundance of caution,” according to a letter sent to parents by Bristol Borough Superintendent Thomas F. Shaffer.
In his letter, Shaffer said the threat was first reported 10 p.m. Sunday through the district’s Safe2Say Something system, a program run by the state Attorney General’s Office that allows students to anonymously report threats.
The district then referred the threat to borough police, who arrested the student with the help of the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office and the county’s Juvenile Probation Department.