SOUTH LYON (WWJ) – A 15-year-old boy accused of making a shooting threat against South Lyon East High School earlier this week has been released on home detention and could be headed to a youth correctional program.
The Wixom teen has been charged with making an intentional threat to commit violence, a misdemeanor punishable by possible placement in a youth correctional program, after the Tuesday incident that prompted a lockdown at the school.
The alleged threat found in a bathroom Tuesday morning apparently said "I'm shooting this school Oct. 5 and 7th and I have a gun SLEH b***h."
The teen, a sophomore at the school, was taken into custody at the school on Wednesday and appeared in Oakland County Juvenile Court for a preliminary hearing on Thursday.
The suspect, whose name has not been released, was allowed to go home with his parents, but has been ordered to wear a tether and remain confined to his home, pending a return to court next week.
Law enforcement and school officials are taking the matter of school threats very seriously. South Lyon Schools Superintendent Steve Archibald tells WWJ they are already seeking the student’s permanent expulsion.
“Kids being kids and making a casual comment is one thing,” Archibald said. “The deliberate actions that have the kind of impact that we experienced recently, which kids and families are scared, and staff legitimately so, it’s inexcusable and something we shouldn’t be tolerating and won’t.”
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Archibald called the decision to expel him an “extremely difficult” one, but said there comes a point where officials have to make the best interests of the school, students and families the priority.
Students weren’t allowed to bring backpacks to school on Wednesday as they were searched while entering the school. There’s been a large police presence at South Lyon East since the incident, and it will remain throughout the week, school principal Karen Fisher said in a letter to parents on Wednesday.
After-school activities were canceled Tuesday after the threat was made, but resumed to normal the rest of the week.
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