Quincy student allegedly made school threat

The Quincy Police Department on Thursday identified a 14-year-old Quincy Middle School (QMS) student responsible for posting an alleged threat online referencing a shooting at QMS.

QPD Capt. Ryan Green said the threats originated a few days prior in the form of graffiti. The graffiti written at the school indicated someone was going to come shoot the school, but was not enough for QPD to identify the person responsible or if the threat was credible.

QPD was notified Wednesday by several parents their children heard of the threats and one saw a social media post about it.

The post was not specific on if the shooting threat was toward the school or a person in the school, but was concerning. Green said the post was very vague and said, “I’m going to come shoot that …”

Between then and Thursday, QPD found the account and post, obtained a warrant and identified the owner of the account, a 14-year-old boy and student of QMS.

The boy was emergency expelled from QMS until the investigation was complete, according to Quincy School District Superintendent John Boyd.

The child allegedly admitted to investigators he made the threats, Green said. Green said the student said the threats were only a joke and mentioned other students may have been involved. QPD was working to identify those students and their role in the threats, Green said.

The QPD said on social media investigators didn’t believe there was a credible threat, but they coordinated with the Quincy School District and were providing extra patrols in and around the schools out of caution.

“It’s very frustrating,” Green said.

He explained threats like these can’t be taken lightly and a lot of time and resources go into investigating the threats, especially this one, which was overnight.

The 14-year-old student was not detained and charges weren’t yet filed. QPD will continue to gather information, but will refer the case to the Grant County Prosecutor’s Office and any charges will be at the prosecutor’s discretion, Green said.

“The investigators really spoke to this 14-year-old and I think in the interview he got the reality of the situation that occurred. He essentially scared a whole school district and didn’t realize,” said Green.

This was one of several unsubstantiated school shooting threats in the past couple of weeks in central Washington and the Columbia Basin. Earlier this week, there was an alleged threat toward Moses Lake High School.

Rebecca Pettingill can be reached at rpettingill@columbiabasinherald.com.