A high school student in the same Michigan county where four students were killed in a school shooting this week has been arrested and charged with threatening to shoot up his own school.
The Lake Orion High School junior, 15, was arrested on Thursday and charged with making terroristic threats after police said he 'would shoot up the school if he could get a gun.'
The school is just seven miles from Oxford High School, where on Tuesday, 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley was arrested for killing four and wounding seven in a shooting rampage.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard, whose jurisdiction includes both schools, said in a statement: 'We are aggressively investigating each of these threats and will seek to hold anyone accountable who makes such threats.'
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard, whose jurisdiction includes both schools, announced the arrest of a Lake Orion teen days after the Oxford High shooting
As is often the case after school shootings, police and school officials in Michigan have had to deal with a slew of copycat threats following Tuesday's tragedy.
More than 60 schools in Michigan, as well as one in Georgia and another in New York, were closed Friday due to copycat threats, which are often bogus but cannot be ignored.
'School districts around the state have closed because of concerns for student and staff safety,' Bouchard said. 'We have seen first-hand the tragic consequences when these statements turn into action. Some may think it is a joke. It is not.
'Others see it as a way to get out of school, or it may be a real precursor that requires us to intervene and prevent.'
The Lake Orion teen, whose name has not been released, appeared in court on Friday before Oakland County Probate Referee Michael Hand.
The juvenile court referee authorized a misdemeanor charge of threatening to commit violence with a firearm against students or employees on school property, which carries a penalty of up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.
The Lake Orion High School junior, 15, was arrested on Thursday and charged with making terroristic threats after police said he 'would shoot up the school of he could get a gun'
The threat was allegedly made on Wednesday, just a day after the deadly rampage at Oxford High.
Crumbley was charged as an adult as an adult with murder, terrorism and other crimes.
On Friday, his parents were charged with involuntary manslaughter for allegedly providing him the gun and ignoring dangerous warning signs in the teen.
Parents James and Jennifer Crumbley are now being sought by the US Marshals Service on a fugitive warrant after disappearing from sight when the charged were announced.
Their attorney insists that they are returning to face the charges after leaving town for fear of their safety after the shooting, but as of Friday night police said that no voluntary surrender had been arranged.
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