High school student arrested after allegedly posing with an AK-47 on social media – By Jana J. Pruet (theblaze.com) / Feb 15 2018
Police arrested a high school student in Illinois for allegedly posing with an assault rifle in photos on social media, including one that mentioned the name of the boy’s school, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Authorities received a tip on Sunday and went to the 15-year-old freshman’s home in Worth where they arrested him for disorderly conduct, spokeswoman Sophia Ansari said.
The student was taken to the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center in Chicago. His identity has not been released, which is common in cases involving a juvenile.
What happened?
The student, who attends Shepard High School in Palos Heights, allegedly shared at least three photos on Snapchat that prompted another student to alert his parents.
One of the photos showed just a gun, and another showed the student holding an AK-47, and a third showed him holding the weapon along with a caption that mentioned his school by name.
“This all started because the student told their parent,” Shepard Principal Greg Walder said. “It’s scary to think what could have happened had that student not told their parent.”
The caption didn’t express an explicit threat to shoot up the school, but the principal treated it as a direct threat.
The parent of the student who saw the photos on social media notified the school’s principal.
The principal contacted the school’s head of security who passed the information on to the police.
Police went to the student’s home where they searched but did not find the weapon.
It turns out the photos were taken at another location and the firearm was legally owned by an adult who does not live in the student’s home, according to authorities.
“This was all handled within two hours of the first phone call to me and the student never stepped foot in the building,” Walder said.
What else?
Walder said he will use this incident as an example to encourage other students to report threatening or concerning activity.
Watch:
This video discusses some of the warning signs that may help detect possible threats before they occur.
