Court releases Kettering Fairmont teen accused in school shooting threat

Teen entered equivalent of not guilty plea and was placed on electronic home monitoring

Credit: FILE

Credit: FILE

A Fairmont High School freshman facing a felony inducing panic charge involving a school shooting threat that cancelled all classes at the school May 9 has been released from custody.

The 14-year-old was placed on electronic home monitoring earlier this month after his release from the Montgomery County Juvenile Detention Center, according to court records.

Judge Helen Wallace restricted the teen from using “all internet and social media platforms,” an order signed May 19 states.

He is ordered to “attend, participate and follow all recommendations of counseling” with any media usage being “approved, controlled and supervised” by a parent, according to the order.

The teen was arrested May 9 by Kettering police after a school shooting threat posted on social media the night before.

On May 10, he was accused of causing “serious public inconvenience or alarm by initiating a report or warning of alleged or impending fire, explosion, crime or other catastrophe, knowing that such a report or warning was false,” court records state. The charge is a second-degree felony.

Court records show that a denial to the charge — the juvenile equivalent of a not-guilty plea — was entered during a recent hearing attended by the teen, his mother and the defendant’s attorney.

After that hearing, the teen was remanded to the county juvenile detention center, and ordered to undergo mental health and psychiatric assessments, according to court records.

The threat on Instagram mentioned “shooting up Fairmont” around noon May 9 and was reported by a parent around 7:45 p.m. May 8, Kettering police records state.

There were weapons in the teen’s house, but Kettering Police Chief Chip Protsman said officers didn’t think there was any intent at all to use them.

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