Teenager Arrested For Threatening Columbus Area Schools

COLUMBUS, OH — A 16-year-old has been arrested for threatening to shoot up several Columbus-area schools on SnapChat. The post said New Boston, Portsmouth, Clay, West and Waverly schools better watch out because someone was coming to shoot people at the schools, according to the Bureau of Criminal Investigations.

"We all take the safety of our students very seriously. Through the quick work of our cyber analysts, we were able to get critical information to local law enforcement that helped them make an arrest, and avoid a potentially terrible situation,” said Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine.

Early on Wednesday night, the Scioto County Sheriff's Office and several other police agencies began getting call from parents about a social media post from an account called Brie Savage. The post made threats to New Boston, Portsmouth, Clay, West and Waverly schools.

Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader asked for help from the Bureau of Criminal Investigation's Cyber Crimes Unit. Reader wanted to track where the threats were coming from electronically.

BCI staff were able to trace the Snapchat account to an address on State Route 23 in Portsmouth. Scioto County Sheriff's Office detectives, with the help of Portsmouth Police, then went to that location at 1:40 a.m. and detained two juveniles for questioning.

“The quick work of BCI and all of our law enforcement partners helped avoid a potential tragedy,” said Reader.

Information gathered during the investigation may also help with a different school threat made in Lawrence County. That information was turned over to the Lawrence County Sheriff's Office.

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