PARMA, Ohio — A Pennsylvania man was indicted in federal court for making threats to shoot students at Parma High School last spring.
Russell D. Miley-Cruz, 21, of Scranton was arrested Friday.
His arrest came just one day after another hoax, this time at Lakeland Community College. A caller told a police dispatcher he was going to start shooting on campus. It turned out that it too was a hoax. The person responsible for that hoax has not been caught.
There is no way for law enforcement to tell if the caller on the phone or the person posting on social media means what they say.
“In the law enforcement world, we have to take every one of those threats seriously, “ said Special Agent Vicki Anderson with the Cleveland FBI office.
The FBI is sending a message to anyone thinking about posting or calling in a threat, don’t do it.
“We’re trying to send a message we’re taking this seriously,” said Anderson.
The FBI rolled out their "Think Before You Post" campaign.
There are radio advertisements, it’s on social media and billboards.
Last April, Parma teachers, students and parents were on edge for days because of the hoax.
“Hopefully, this will help to deter other people, even if they think it’s a prank now they realize it’s not,” said Sgt. Dan Ciryak with the Parma Police Department.
The school district said in a written statement:
“The events which occurred in April 2018 created a significant disruption to the operations of our district and our work to educate our students. We are grateful for our law enforcement partnersʼ work to investigate this occurrence and follow through with charges. We will continue to collaborate with our community to ensure that all students in the Parma City School District are safe.”
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