LORAIN, Ohio — An early morning threat made on social media resulted in Lorain High School being closed on Tuesday. Police say a 12-year-old student made the threat and is facing a charge of inducing panic.
According to a release from Lorain police, the department received notification from the FBI at approximately 4 a.m. that a threat to "shoot up a school" had been found "on a popular social media platform."
Police say "investigative measures" identified a residence inside of the city of Lorain as the location from which the post was made. Both the department's detective bureau and school resource officers were mobilized.
"These threats are taken very seriously. In this day and age, we have to." Lorain Police Lt. Jacob Morris said during a briefing on Tuesday afternoon. "This is not a joking matter. We don't, and our schools don't, take this lightly."
Due to "the nature of the threat and out of abundance of caution," Lorain City Schools decided to close Lorain High School for the day as police continued its investigation.
"The reason why we closed the one school, the high school, and not the others is because it opens the soonest," explained Lorain City Schools Superintendent Jeff Graham during a press conference. "There were still a couple of questions we didn't have answers to."
Just after 7 a.m., Lorain police say its detectives "obtained a confession from a 12-year-old female suspect, a student at Lorain City Schools who claimed to have written the post as a joke." Officials say the detectives then were able to ensure that the suspect "had no means on following through on the threat" and released her with a summons to appear before juvenile court on a charge of inducing panic.
The 12-year-old may also be subject to discipline by Lorain City Schools, police officials added.
"Chief McCann and the Lorain Police Department would like to thank Lorain City Schools and Superintendent Jeff Graham for their assistance and collaboration in serving the residents of the City of Lorain," the department added in its release. "The Lorain Police Department was able to complete this investigation, rule the threat to be non-credible and refer a juvenile to the courts in just under three hours, thanks to the commitment of our officers and our collaborative relationships with Lorain City Schools."
Graham, likewise, appreciated how all entities came together quickly in a time of panic.
"If there's a good thing that comes out of this, it's that everyone behaved as they were trained to behave. From the police department, to our safety and security, everybody did the right thing. As a result, things can resume to some sense of normalcy sooner," he added.
You can watch Tuesday's briefing in the player below.