Suspect in Social Media Threats Investigation Arrested
This morning, Major Crimes Detectives arrested a 16-year-old female for her role instigating the SnapChat threats toward East Valley High School. She was booked into the Spokane County Juvenile Detention Facility for Harassment and Threats to Bomb or Injure Property, both felonies.
Investigators learned the suspect made a fraudulent SnapChat account and posted the threat because she “didn’t want to go to school”. She then took a screenshot of the message, showing the fraudulent account as the sender, and began sending it out to her friends. Some continued to disseminate this threat without reporting it to law enforcement, school officials or parents, causing fear to spread rapidly.
Thankfully some of the people who received the threat did report it immediately, initiating an investigation and additional safety precautions to be put into place the next day.
The investigation into these threats, East Valley and West Valley, continues as investigators work to identify anyone else involved and hold them accountable.
Spokane Valley Police, Spokane County Sheriff’s Office and School District Officials take the safety of students and staff very seriously and threats like this will not be tolerated. The large amount of fear spread through our community and our schools, in addition to the expansive amount or resources needed to ensure students and staff were safe while the threat was investigated, merely because the suspect didn’t want to go to school, is unbelievable.
We again ask parents to have a conversation with their school age children about social media, threats and the power of their words and actions. Please explain the need to report threats immediately instead of sharing/forwarding them. This only spreads fear while hindering our ability to quickly investigate these threats and keep students and staff safe.
See It – Say It
Deputy Mark Gregory
Spokane County Sheriff’s Office
Spokane Valley Police Department
Public Information Officer