Teen's Facebook Death Threats Lead To Fight, Suspensions
ANOKA, Minn. (WCCO) -- A Minnesota mother is outraged that a friend of her son's posted a threat on Facebook to kill him at Anoka High School. She's upset the school suspended him for just two days.
Both 14-year-old Brandon Larsen and 15-year-old Euris Marshall are students at Anoka High school.
Euris now faces a possible expulsion, but only because of a later fight between the two boys.
Both the school district and the Anoka County Sheriff's Office said this case is not unusual.
Euris said he is now sorry for the threats he posted.
"I know what I said on Facebook that was to extreme," said Euris. "I threatened him. I said I was going to shoot him."
For the Facebook threats, Euris got a two-day suspension. When he returned to school after the Thanksgiving break, he and the boy he threatened, Brandon, got into a fist fight.
"He swung at me and then we fought from there," said Euris.
The school has surveillance video and told both boys they couldn't tell who started the fight. So both boys were suspended for 10 days.
Euris now faces a Dec. 13 hearing to see if he will be expelled. The Facebook threats against Brandon and his family are laced with profanities and are still posted.
Brandon's mother, Cindy, says the school failed to take steps to keep the two boys apart and that the initial two-day suspension was too little.
"He said that he was going to murder my son. He was going to shoot him, he was going to put metal in his chest," said Cindy Larsen.
But Sandy Jackson feels her son, Euris, should be allowed back in school even though she agrees he was wrong.
"I know my son. I know he can do better," said Jackson.
As for the fight, Cindy Larsen said the school showed her son a videotape of the fight from a surveillance camera.
"Brandon said 'I didn't throw the first punch. I didn't throw the second punch and it's all in the surveillance tape,'" said Larsen.
The Larsen family called the Anoka County Sheriff's Office about the threats but was told there was nothing that could be done.
According to the Anoka County Sheriff's Office spokesperson, if someone makes a threat they will only be prosecuted if they have the ability to carry out the threat.
Deputies determined that Euris did not have access to a gun.
Mary Olson, a spokesperson for the Anoka County Schools said the school district did all it could to discipline both boys. As for the Facebook threats, Olson said it is difficult for schools to discipline students for actions that do not take place at school.
WCCO-TV's Esme Murphy Reports
