Teen Charged With Terrorism In Polish Fair Threat
DETROIT (WWJ) - A Detroit teen has been charged with domestic terrorism for an alleged threat against the St. Mary's Polish Country Fair.
Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard says the teen was arrested at his home he after allegedly Tweeted pictures of himself posing with weapons and the words: "We can't wait till St. Mary's Fair."
Bouchard said the images, posted via the photo application Instagram, showed the 16-year-old boy with a handgun, an assault rifle, and several fully loaded high-capacity magazines.
"There was pictures, a Tweet, and other kinds of social media that kind of led us to him," Bouchard told WWJ Newsradio 950's Sandra McNeil.
"He in person implied that it wasn't serious, but it's hard for us to believe that this was just a fun and games thing -- the way that it was presented," Bouchard said.
"Some of the information we had developed -- without getting too awfully specific -- [was] relative to some gang activity ... And that's nothing that we're going to put up with," he added.
Bouchard said the threat wasn't made public because the teen was arrested and extra security was added at the holiday weekend fair on the Orchard Lake St. Mary's Campus.
"We took, obviously, very detailed preventative action," Bouchard said. "I mean, we had one credible threat. We located that threat and took him into custody."
The teen, whose name has not yet been released, is being held without bond at Children's Village.
He's due back in court next week when a judge will decide whether or not he will be charged as an adult.
