Charlotte middle school student arrested for posting threat on Instagram, police say

An eighth grade student was arrested after posting a mass shooting threat to Instagram, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police said Monday.

Staff at Southwest Middle School in the Steele Creek area shared the post with a school resource officer on Sept. 19, police said in a Twitter thread Monday. Police tracked the account to the 14-year-old student, who cannot be identified by North Carolina law because they are under 18.

Officers found no weapons at the student’s home, CMPD said. The student admitted to making the threat and was arrested, police said.

Police also made contact with another student who also shared a post that could be perceived as a threat, but that student was not charged, CMPD said.

CMPD’s announcement comes a week after several Charlotte-area schools received bomb threats and were evacuated, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.

Two Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools received threats last week. Hough High in Cornelius on Tuesday night received information about a bomb threat that officials did not believe was not directed at the school itself, CMS said in an email at the time.

The next day, police responded to a tip about a non-specific bomb threat at North Mecklenburg High School in Huntersville.

In addition to the pair of bomb threats, three other CMS schools — Olympic High School, Kennedy Middle School and Steele Creek Elementary — were locked down Wednesday morning due to police activity nearby, the Observer previously reported.

In Cabarrus County, two students face charges in connection with seven bomb threats against four schools over a period of three days.

Making threats on social media, or in text messages and e-mail, is a federal crime, according to the FBI.

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