SOUTH LYON, Mich. (WXYZ) — On Wednesday, Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald charged several teens for allegedly making threats against South Lyon East High School.
The sheriff called a press conference Wednesday afternoon to spread the message that threats won't be tolerated.
Watch the full press conference below:
"Somehow, we have normalized thinking threatening thoughts or saying threatening thoughts about schools," Sheriff Mike Bouchard said.
He said five threats or concerning statements against schools have been made in five days. The latest one was at South Lyon East High School.
After many mass school shootings and now the Georgia school shooting, Bouchard said an uptick in threats is typical. On Sept. 9, he said three students at South Lyon East High School made threats in a group chat.
Related video: Teen accused of killing 4 at Georgia high school and father appear in court
One allegedly threatened to shoot up the school the following day. Investigators learned there are weapons in the home, but the student's parent said the teen doesn’t have access to them.
Bouchard said two other students in the chat had threatened to bomb or blow up the school. All three were arrested.
“To say you’re gonna blow up a school or to say you’re gonna shoot it up is not acceptable, and it will be investigated and people will be held to account," he said.
The prosecutor charged two of them with false report or threats of terrorism. The other is charged with intentional threats to commit an act of violence against a school, school employee or students.
Bouchard said they aren’t believed to be credible threats, but they are under investigation. At Pontiac Middle School, he said a 13-year-old boy told two students he was going to shoot them. The kid was removed from school and no guns were found in the home.
Video: Deadly Georgia and Oxford high school shootings have frightening similarities
Bouchard said whether a threat is spoken or published, it needs to be reported.
“We don’t know what is being posted or said often times unless people share it," the sheriff said.
He said that’s exactly what happened in these instances. Someone saw something and said something to teachers or authorities.
“And the people most likely to be in a position to see or hear something are students and teachers. And they need to share that information to allow intervention and not response. We don’t ever want to respond to an active scenario again," Bouchard explained.
Two students face 20 years in prison if convicted. The other student is facing a one-year misdemeanor.
