Dallas Boy Arrested For School Shooting Threat
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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Police in Dallas arrested a 12-year-old boy for threatening to shoot up his charter school.
The child was taken into custody on Thursday at Trinity Basin Preparatory Academy and is now locked up at a juvenile justice center. Police would not get into the details of the threat, but said that it was very serious.
About 600 students attend the school.
According to authorities, the seventh-grader had recently talked about shooting up the school with another classmate. The boy reportedly even showed that other student a detailed diagram of the school, and how he would carry out his attack. That other student was asked if he could help.
Instead, the witness told school administrators, briefly placing the campus on lockdown.
Police said that the student's motive is not clear, and they are not sure when he had planned on attacking the school.
Officials are now praising the child who came forward. "That's a very courageous thing for a 12-year-old," said Assistant Chief Randall Blankenbaker with the Dallas Police Department during a Thursday news conference. "We've been 12 years old and we know what peer pressure is like, and we know how hard it is to do the right thing sometimes, but this young man was very courageous."
Authorities did not find a weapon at the school or at the student's home, but made the arrest after seeing the detailed plan.
Now, concerned parents are wondering if their kids are safe, and upset that they did not find out sooner. School leaders stated that they had planned to inform parents on Friday, and assured that there is no longer any reason to worry. "At no time did we believe, yesterday or any other day, any students or staff members were under any sort of danger," said Randy Shaffer, school superintendent.
"I really didn't want to drop my grandson off at school, but I think they are handling it okay," said grandparent Jane Ojeda.
"I need to know what's going on in the school," added parent Leslie Soto. "If there is something going on that I'm not aware of because nobody informed me, I need to take my child back home."