Threats of school violence found to be made up

Late Monday evening, the School Safety Division of the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office was made aware of purported threats of violence set to take place at Admiral Byrd Middle School. Since then, FCSO has been working with school officials to investigate the alleged threats and has concluded them to have been made up.

Based on electronic forensic evidence obtained from a search warrant, two 13-year-old Fredrick County public school students have been identified as being responsible for the hoax. The
two individuals will now face charges for creating and disseminating these messages, as well as administrative sanctions from the school system.

The messages alluded to someone coming to Admiral Byrd Middle School with the intent to cause harm to others. They were then shared with other students, who showed their parents, and contacted school officials and the sheriff’s office. After the initial investigation and assessment, Monday evening showed these threats not to be credible, so extra resources were deployed for Tuesday’s return to school out of an abundance of caution. Even so, unofficial data shows that approximately 46% of students did not report for class on Tuesday morning.

“People, even those as young as these two, need to realize just how much of an impact something like this has on public safety and services,” said Frederick County Sheriff Lenny Millholland. “Pulling resources from other areas in the county, additional manpower needed, and the financial cost aren’t the only things to consider here,” said Millholland, concluding, “there are innocent students and parents who have been negatively impacted by these actions, and now these two students face some very serious consequences.”