Expelled student charged with
threatening his school
A 15-year-old boy who was expelled from a junior high school in western Norway has been charged with posting threats against the school on YouTube.The threats prompted police to cordon off the school on Monday, search it thoroughly and then search all students arriving for classes.
Police already had arrested a suspect in the case, but wouldn't immediately identify him. Newspaper Bergens Tidende now reports that the suspect is a 15-year-old boy who was expelled from Erdal Junior High School on the island of Askøy a few weeks ago.
"I'll come back and get you," the boy is alleged to have said after his expulsion. He reportedly was a victim of bullying and has been in the intermittent care of state child protective services (Barnevernet).
The boy was brought in for questioning on Monday but later released. He remains charged in the case, since police believe they can link him to a video posted on YouTube that contained photos of the Erdal school, threats against it, and links to recent school massacres in Finland, and at Virginia Tech and Columbine High School in the US.
"We view the video as a threat," said prosecutor Elisabeth Soglo of the Hordaland Police District, and both school officials and local authorities are taking it seriously.
The boy claims he had nothing to do with the video. It has since been removed from YouTube.
The episode has brought the fear of school massacres to Norway. Erdal Principal Leiv Jan Nielsen confirmed that he was threatened by the boy a few weeks ago, but otherwise declined to comment on the boy's expulsion.
Aftenposten English Web Desk
Nina Berglund/NTB
No comments:
Post a Comment