EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – The Socorro Independent School District Police Chief George Johnson was joined by District Attorney Bill Hicks in a press conference to answer questions regarding SISD’s news release, announcing that two juveniles had been “taken into custody” regarding two separate incidents of false threats made to Montwood High School over the last two months.
Johnson confirmed that both juveniles were students, one of them a 15-year old-girl, and the other a 16-year-old boy.
According to the news release, the girl was taken into custody on Oct. 30, approximately one month after allegedly making a false alarm report of a bomb threat to the school back on Sept. 27. Johnson said the student used the anonymous alert system to make the false alarm.
The 16-year-old boy was taken into custody on Oct. 27, the very same day he allegedly made a false threat to the school, by posting a picture of himself with a rifle online. Both cases are now closed, Johnson said.
The overarching message at the press conference was to inform the community that SISD does not take these threats lightly, and to warn both students and parents that making these false alarms can lead to serious consequences. Both Johnson and Hicks urged parents to store weapons safely, as they can be held accountable for rendering them accessible to their children, on top of the danger it imposes to the community.
Hicks repeatedly emphasized that making false threats is taken very seriously and that offenders will be prosecuted.
“It’s so important to understand that if that threat is picked up by law enforcement and it’s prosecuted, it is a felony offense, potentially a felony offense,” Hicks said.
Hicks warned that if you’re 17 years of age, that felony charge can “ruin the entire trajectory of your life.”
Although the District Attorney’s Office does not handle cases involving juveniles under the age of 17, which are handled by the El Paso County Attorney’s Office, he explained that most seniors are between the ages of 17 to 18 years old, prompting a collaborative effort.
Hicks told KTSM that in conjunction with the County Attorney’s Office and school districts’ police chiefs, they have just formed a task force with the intention of delivering a message across all school districts, addressing the issue of false threats.
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