(NewsNation) — Two 12-year-old middle school students were arrested and charged Monday in connection to a school shooter threat in Laredo, Texas, just days after four people were killed in Georgia.
The two girls allegedly posted to a Snapchat chat room “I’m going to be a school shooter,” according to the Laredo Police Department.
Investigator Joe Baeza, LPD Public Information Officer, told NewsNation Wednesday that both of the girls’ parents were caught off guard by the allegations, but they complied with police and allowed a search of their residences. No weapons were found.
Given the nature of the alleged threats against Cigarroa Middle School, which is within the Laredo Independent School District, the school closed and did not have classes, along with several other area schools. The neighboring Cigarroa High School canceled classes as well.
The threats against the Laredo middle school came less than a week after a 14-year-old boy shot and killed two students and two teachers at his Winder, Georgia, high school.
Also, Laredo is about 130 miles southwest of Uvalde, where an 18-year-old man killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School.
The 12-year-olds in Laredo are facing felony charges for making terroristic threats and remain in a juvenile detention center. A judge ordered Tuesday to hold them for at least 10 days, according to local news outlet KGNS News. The Webb County Attorney’s Office is weighing whether to charge them as juveniles or as adults.
The minors’ age and gender make this case especially unique. The deadliest school shooters have typically been in their late teens, according to a Washington Post analysis. Perpetrators have also typically been males, the Post found.
“In my 25-span career, this is the youngest I’ve seen this drastic,” Baeza said. “Usually this (type of threat) isn’t coming from the female gender. Most of our troublemakers have been generally guys. These two young ladies have changed that dynamic.”
The LPD has investigated 11 school shooting-related threats since the start of the school year in mid-August.
A motive for the alleged threats is unknown, but police believe it could have been said in a joking manner. Law enforcement was not taking any chances and immediately enlisted the Texas Anti-Gang unit to investigate in tandem.
“Imagine as a parent getting a wakeup call from police looking for your 12-year-old because she said something probably in jest or something she didn’t feel she would carry out,” Baeza told NewsNation. “But why, in the temperament that we live in, would you say those things? … It’s a hard lesson to be learned.”
The FBI recognized the Laredo PD previously for its swift action involving school threat investigations, including in the case of Brandon Speed, a Laredo man who was initially arrested for making terroristic threats related to the Uvalde school shooting and later sentenced to federal prison for making false statements during a firearm purchase.
“It doesn’t matter what size or whether they’re 12-year-old girls or in their 20s or whatever,” Baeza said “We take all these cases very seriously, (and) there’s not one that we don’t quickly follow up on.”
