14-Year-Old Arrested, Charged For Threats To Council Rock HS South
By Jim Melwert, Jericka Duncan
NEWTOWN, Pa. (CBS) - Council Rock High School South was closed Friday, as police combed the building in response to a threat.
Detective Sergeant Bill Klein says this all began around 5:45 p.m. Thursday, when a parent contacted police after her son told her about rumors of a threat at Council Rock South.
Police say that the report made to the Northampton Township Police Department indicated that a 14-year-old student said he was going to bring knives and a gun into Council Rock South High School on Friday morning and kill random staff and students.
Officials report that after an immediate investigation the student was arrested at his home located on Cypress Avenue.
Police say they found numerous air soft weapons and knives, including machetes and swords inside the home and a fake riffle that looks like an AK47 and two 9mm fully functional, WWII vintage firearms on a nightstand in the juvenile's bedroom.
"We have identified one student. We're very confident that that is the only person involved at this point. He is in custody, so we believe the immediate threat has been squelched," explained Sergeant Klein.
"He was going to bring weapons into the school and he was going to kill and harm people at the facility," said Northhampton Township Police Chief Barry Pilla.
Police say the boy's parents were also arrested; 50-year-old Lizabeth Donohoe and 48-year-old Mario Russo, Jr. of Feasterville.
Donohoe was charged with possession of a firearm, endangering the welfare of children, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. She has been placed in Bucks County Correctional Facility after failing to post bail.
Russo was charged with obstruction of the administration of justice and resisting arrest and released pending summons.
The juvenile was charged with terroristic threats and possession of a firearm by a minor and placed in the Bucks County Youth Detention Center in Edison.
Investigators received a search warrant Friday. Officials plan to go through the Cypress Avenue home in Richboro to see if they find more evidence of a plot to kill students and teachers.
"We can choose to live in fear for these kinds of things, or we can take some degree of solace knowing and comfort in the fact that kids reported well," said Superintendent Mark Klien during a news conference Friday.
Sergeant Klein says the school district is cooperating fully with the police department, and he says, while the timing of this is concerning, so soon after the events in Connecticut, the police department would have handled this the same way, just as seriously.
