GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — A juvenile is in custody after allegedly threatening Edison Middle School on social media, while the investigation continues into threats made against Preble High School.
The Green Bay Police Department has determined both threats to not be credible; however, the investigation continues to ensure those responsible are held accountable.
Police took a Green Bay student into custody Monday night for allegedly making the threat against Edison.
She appeared in Brown County Juvenile Court Tuesday afternoon. A court commissioner ruled that she will remain in custody, rejecting a request to release her to her parents.
The girl, whose age was not given in court, faces a juvenile court version of the charge of making a terrorist threat.
State law prohibits the media from identifying suspects in juvenile court.
Court Commissioner Chad Resar ordered the girl be held at Shelter Care until the next hearing on June 5.
Authorities are sending a strong message that incidents like this won’t be tolerated because of the impact they have on the community.
More than half of the nearly-1,100 Edison Middle School students were called in absent Tuesday. Another 150 missed school at Preble because of the threats.
“When students aren’t in school, they aren’t learning,” said Green Bay Area Public School District interim superintendent Vicki Bayer during a press conference. “In addition, these threats cause psychological harm and cause a lot of stress for our parents, for our staff and for our students.”
Despite the threats lack of credibility, they still left some feeling uneasy.
“In the morning, I was so scared,” said Preble senior Alba Lobec. “I was thinking about not coming to school, but then we got to school, and the teachers were really relaxed about it.”
To help calm fears, the schools increased security for the day.
“I noticed a few more, like the authorities, like associate principals and stuff — and I know they’re on the cameras more and watching that,” said Preble junior Kaitlyn Duchateau. “So, I know there’s more eyes watching stuff.”
Extra police officers were stationed at Edison and Preble all day. Regular patrols helped to monitor the buildings too.
As soon as GBAPD and police learned of the threats, which were posted to social media, investigators got to work.
It took only two hours to identify the student responsible for the Edison threat.
The Preble threat, which isn’t believed to be connected, remains under investigation.
“We have a pretty good track record of solving these cases, and sometimes pretty quickly,” said GBPD Chief Chris Davis. “And the message that really should send to anyone who’s contemplating making a threat like this is: we’re going to find you and you’ll be held accountable.”
Green Bay police wouldn’t indicate a motive for either of the threats or go into detail about how they identified the student responsible for the one at Edison.
But district officials want students, parents and the community to know they take these situations very seriously, and there will be consequences in the court of law and in the school.
“If you do something like this, the likelihood of you returning to our school district is very low,” said Bayer.
The student accused of making threats against Edison has already been suspended from school and expulsion proceedings are planned, a representative of Brown County Human Services said in court. She has had no prior criminal contacts with the juvenile court system.
Additionally, the school district requested that the girl be barred from having contact with the schools — other than for the disciplinary proceedings. That request was granted.
While the investigation continues at Preble, police will continue to have increased security at the high school on Wednesday as a precautionary measure.
