CENTRAL TEXAS -- A 17-year-old has been charged after social media threats against Austin-area high schools made the rounds on social media, prompting school officials to send letters to parents.
The Travis County Sheriff's Office told KVUE Friday the 17-year-old was charged with making a terroristic threat in a social media post, a misdemeanor. He has been identified by authorities as Holden Cooper Smith, a Westlake High School student with Eanes Independent School District.
On April 19, the Travis County Sheriff's Office received a call from school district police in Hays County stating that someone believed to be a student at Westlake High School had posted a photo on Snapchat of an assault rifle inside a backpack with a caption that read, "Ready for school," the affidavit said.
The school district official said several students were in fear that someone was going to come and shoot up the school.
Smith was called to the assistant principal's office and read his Miranda Rights. When asked if he knew why he was in the office, Smith allegedly said it was "because of the picture I posted."
Smith allegedly went on to say that it was a joke and he "did not mean anything by it."
The officer then told him that the picture caused alarm to several people and that he had committed the offense of "terroristic threat," the affidavit said. That's when he was taken to the Travis County Jail.
The Travis County Sheriff's Office told KVUE he was charged with a misdemeanor because they could not prove that he posted a real gun on Snapchat.
On April 20, the Hays County Sheriff's Office and the Hays County Consolidated Independent School District said that they will have additional law enforcement officers on campus after that photo circulated on social media among Hays High School students.
"Every threat is taken seriously and in every case where violence is threatened toward a student or student body. Hays County Sheriff’s deputies responded appropriately and in a timely manner to the homes of students who may be persons of interest or in some cases where the target of an aggressor may be an unaware fellow student," the Hays County Sheriff's Office statement said.
Along with the large law enforcement presence on campus, Hays High School Principal David Pierce said in a letter to parents that there would be crisis counseling staff available for students upset by the threats or who have concerns about school safety.
Principal Pierce concluded his letter by thanking parents and students for contacting authorities after hearing about the threats.
