Kent police arrested an 11-year-old Stanton Middle School student early Friday morning after the child allegedly made threats involving a school shooting to another student in a text message.
The boy has been charged with making terroristic threats, according to authorities.
“There was a text conversation going on between two 11-year-old students at Stanton Middle School,” explained Kent Police Lt. Mike Lewis.
The following conversation was detailed in a police report:
Suspect: "Ur on my list."
Other student: "Of?"
Suspect: "Of school shooting."
Other student: "Oh hell no."
Suspect: "Oh hell yes."
"How many friends u have?"
"I like to watch people die."
“Those are horrific statements that you can’t imagine any person saying, let alone an 11-year-old person,” Lewis said.
In an unusual step for cases involving juveniles, officers identified the 11-year-old suspect after he admitted to making the threat and showed them the phone conversation.
"We are consistently going to release the name and charges of anyone who is physically arrested for a crime," said Lewis. "That's another point parents can make when they're having conversations with their kids. This is something that can follow you for a very long time. You have to be responsible for your actions, for your words, for your text messages."
Investigators said they spoke to the school resource officer, principal and the prosecutor about the situation. Officers arrested the child just before 2 a.m. Friday.
They said the 11-year-old and his family cooperated with police during the investigation.
As a result of the incident, and "out of an abundance of caution," the school was closed Friday.
“Now kids are being kept home from school and how does that affect our families with children at home that are going to need to be looked after?” Lewis said.
Other community members told News 5 they were shocked to hear about the age of the suspect making the threats.
“He’s 11-years-old. He’s just a little kid. It’s sad, is what it is,” Michael Longhitano said.
The former coach and current substitute teacher said he tries to foster positive relationships with students, but worries about the influences and threats his young grandson could face when he reaches school age.
“They get together, they’re bullying," he said. "Go talk to your mom and dad or talk to the teacher, talk to the priest, but talk to somebody. Don’t hold it in because this could ruin your life.”
School officials and police are urging families to have conversations with children about the seriousness of threats and the appropriate use of their cell phones.
"They think it's a great prank and they don't realize the repercussions of it," said Tim Dimoff, a national law enforcement and security expert for SACS Consulting and Security Services.
The Thursday evening incident was the second school threat investigated by Kent Police within 2 weeks. Across Northeast Ohio, many others have been reported since the start of the school year.
Earlier this month, Lorain police arrested a 12 year old for threats. In an unrelated case, a 13 year old girl was charged for threats in Garfield Heights.
“A lot of parents think, ‘Oh that’s older kids in high school or college that are going to do it.’ No, it’s trickled down into grade schools because of social media,” Dimoff said.
The Kent suspect was taken into custody at the Portage County Juvenile Detention Center. He has since been released to his mother's custody.
