Youth charged with making ‘terroristic threat’ moved to alternative campus

A Karnes City 8th grader was released into his parents’ custody May 17 after being held 20 days in an Atascosa County jail on suspicion he made terroristic threats against classmates.

Police have not dropped the charges against the boy, whose name was not released, and Karnes City ISD officials have decided to place him in at an alternative campus.

Karnes City Junior High School principal Jeanette Winn said the student’s placement has nothing to do with whether or not he’s considered a danger to his classmates. His placement there, according to Winn, is because of disciplinary issues and other matters the school cannot legally disclose.

The boy was arrested at school April 27 after having allegedly made a terroristic threat the day prior in a private Internet chat room conversation on his home computer.

The boy allegedly expressed his frustration with group of students he listed. After saying he had been bullied and picked on and was tired of it, the student mentioned "getting even," according to a report released by the school and statements made by police.

Both the school and police say the student did not specify in the chat conversation what he meant by "getting even," but Police Chief Eddie Salas and County Attorney Bobby Busselman both insisted there was sufficient grounds to arrest the student and press charges.

The police, the school, and the county attorney all say there are additional factors surrounding the student’s arrest that cannot at this time be disclosed.

Busselman stated shortly after the April 27 arrest that police have to be extra careful and take matters more seriously now after the April shooting at Virginia Tech where one student killed 32 people and himself during one of the most violent school shootings in recent history.

Busselman said the concern is over copycats — that a student with violent tendencies may see the events that happened at Virginia Tech and use them to develop revenge plans of his own.