A 15-year-old boy from Tewksbury is facing criminal charges after allegedly threatening to commit a school shooting in a video distributed on Snapchat.
In the video, the teenager, a student at Shawsheen Valley Technical High School in Billerica, allegedly brandished a weapon that looked similar to an assault rifle. Police later determined the weapon was an airsoft gun.
"Yesterday, at approximately 10:34 p.m. police responded to a Tewksbury home at the request of the juvenile's mother who had located a video that depicted the male showing the airsoft rifle in an attempt to make it appear real and making threatening remarks," Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan, Tewksbury Police Chief Timothy Sheehan and Billerica Police Chief Daniel Rosa said in a joint statement. "Police located the video and subsequently located the airsoft rifle and another airsoft handgun and took possession of them. No firearms were located in the home."
Investigators believe the video was sent to four students at Shawsheen Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School. Police are not aware of any ongoing threat to the school, but will increase their presence on campus out of an "abundance of caution," the statement said.
Tewksbury teen threatened school shooting on Snapchat, police say
In the video, the teenager, a student at Shawsheen Valley Technical High School in Billerica, allegedly brandished a weapon that looked similar to an assault rifle. Police later determined the weapon was an airsoft gun.
"Yesterday, at approximately 10:34 p.m. police responded to a Tewksbury home at the request of the juvenile's mother who had located a video that depicted the male showing the airsoft rifle in an attempt to make it appear real and making threatening remarks," Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan, Tewksbury Police Chief Timothy Sheehan and Billerica Police Chief Daniel Rosa said in a joint statement. "Police located the video and subsequently located the airsoft rifle and another airsoft handgun and took possession of them. No firearms were located in the home."
Investigators believe the video was sent to four students at Shawsheen Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School. Police are not aware of any ongoing threat to the school, but will increase their presence on campus out of an "abundance of caution," the statement said.
Tewksbury teen threatened school shooting on Snapchat, police say
