CRIME

Sheriff: 50 threats against New Hanover schools since Parkland

10 students charged in New Hanover, Pender counties

Cammie Bellamy StarNews Staff
(Left to right) New Hanover County Sheriff Ed McMahon, District Attorney Ben David and New Hanover County Schools Superintendent Tim Markley during a press conference Tuesday on school safety. [F.T. NORTON/STARNEWS]

WILMINGTON -- Law enforcement in New Hanover County have investigated 50 recent threats against local schools, according to District Attorney Ben David.

In an unannounced press conference Tuesday following an unrelated conference about the region's opioid crisis, David said local sheriff's offices have put significant resources into investigating threats since Feb. 14's school shooting in Parkland, Florida. David said 10 local students have now been charged after allegedly making threats against their schools -- six in New Hanover and four in Pender County.

Two of those arrests happened Monday: a 15-year-old Heide Trask High student and a 15-year-old Ashley High student. New Hanover County Sheriff's Office spokesman Lt. Jerry Brewer said in an interview that of the students investigated for threats, the Ashley student arrested Monday is the only one who had access to guns at home, where there were two rifles and a handgun owned by his parents.

"This is sometimes a hidden problem," David said. "When a juvenile under the age of 16 is arrested, we don’t have press conferences for that. In fact, they have to be kept confidential. So it might surprise you to know that just in my district, in my two counties, there are 10 young people in custody right now with varying degrees of offenses out of school threats that we’ve investigated."

New Hanover County Sheriff Ed McMahon said that his deputies have investigated 50 threats against local schools since Parkland, netting seven arrests.

Press releases sent to local news media in recent weeks have detailed just six arrests of New Hanover County Schools students. Brewer said the seventh student was a 17-year-old arrested Feb. 19 after allegedly making a SnapChat threat against the district. Brewer did not know what school the student attended.

Arrests of three students from Myrtle Grove Middle School, one from Murray Middle and two from Ashley High have also been announced. McMahon called on parents to talk with their children about the seriousness of threats.

"It's been said that our parents are our best police," he said. "Let's stop this madness."

"I plead with parents to work with the school system, that we have to come together as a community to combat this and work in unity to make it work," Pender County Schools Superintendent Steven Hill said.

While North Carolina recently moved to raise the age at which teenagers are charged as adults from 16 to 18, that law does not go into effect until December 2019. That means if a high-schooler 16 or older is arrested in connection with a threat, he could still be charged as an adult, David said.

David said it a relatively new state law requires mass violence threats to be charged as felonies. He noted that after the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, school threats were largely charged as misdemeanors, and his office has been charging recent threats on a case-by-case basis.

"There are felonies and there are misdemeanors, we’ve charged both in this district over the last several days," he said.

David also warned that a felony charge can follow a child for the rest of his life, possibly stopping them from voting or owning a gun, having to be listed on college applications and, in some instances, requiring their parents to repay the costs of the police investigation.

"We are not going to be the community where red flags were waved and we didn’t look," David said.

Staff writer F.T. Norton contributed to this story.

Reporter Cammie Bellamy can be reached at 910-343-2339 or Cammie.Bellamy@StarNewsOnline.com.

Recent school threat allegations

  • Feb. 16: A sixth-grader was arrested at South Brunswick Middle after allegedly telling classmates he heard there would be a shooting at the school.
  • Feb. 19: A 17-year-old New Hanover County Schools student was arrested after allegedly making a SnapChat threat against the district.
  • Feb. 20: A seventh-grader was arrested at South Brunswick Middle after allegedly threatening to shoot people at the school.
  • Feb. 20: A SnapChat video threatening Pender County Schools circulates among students. A 14-year-old Topsail High student and a 15-year-old Trask High student are arrested Feb. 21 for felony making a false threat of violence on educational property.
  • Feb. 21: A 14-year-old Myrtle Grove Middle student in New Hanover County was arrested after allegedly making a threatening video and writing a message on desk that included a drawing of a gun.
  • Feb. 22: A 14-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy at Myrtle Grove Middle in New Hanover County were arrested after they allegedly told several classmates that they were going to “shoot up” an assembly. The two were friends with the boy arrested the previous day.
  • Feb. 23: Deputies investigated a report of 15-year-old student at Ashley High in New Hanover County who allegedly had a list of people to kill. The student was arrested Feb. 28 after new information revealed he allegedly attempted to solicit help from another student.
  • March 1: A 13-year-old Cape Fear Middle student in Pender County was arrested after a teacher was given a note that included a drawing of a gun being fired at the school.
  • March 2: A 12-year-old at Murray Middle student in New Hanover County was arrested after telling a teacher he was looking up layouts for the school so he could shoot it up.
  • March 5: A 15-year-old at Ashley High was arrested after allegedly posting a photograph of a backpack and gun with a caption reading, “Ready for school” online.
  • March 5: A 15-year-old at Trask High was arrested after a drawing of a school shooting was found.

Sources: Brunswick County Schools, Pender County Sheriff’s Office, New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office