BALTIMORE (WJZ) — The Anne Arundel County Police Department has charged a 14-year-old girl with a juvenile citation for sending a threatening tweet related to Arundel High School. Police began their investigation after Arundel High School officials told them about a suspicious Twitter account.
The account, named @KoolkidsKlanKkk, reportedly sent out a tweet that read, “We’re planning to attack tomorrow”.
This account used similar language to a racial petition that had been passed around Anne Arundel High School by the “Kool Kids Klan”.
Police worked with Twitter, and were able to identify the person who created the account and sent out the threatening tweet.
That person has been identified as a 14-year-old African American female who attends Arundel High School.
Authorities interviewed the girl while she was with her parents, and police say she admitted to creating the Twitter account and sending the threatening tweet.
She was charged with a juvenile citation for disruption of school activities and released to her parents.
“It makes me really upset. I can’t believe that students would write something like that,” said parent Michelle Fitzurka.
“I kind of felt unsafe at the school and a little hurt,” said Taylor Nash, a freshman at Arundel High.
The school district said all the students involved in that incident were disciplined, but the students were not identified, and to complicate an already tense situation, Wednesday night hundreds showed up for a meeting at the school, but some parents still had questions.
“That is not good enough. What’s going to happen with the students that are still here?” said parent Tamara Hannah.
“The federal law prohibits me from telling you exactly what the consequences were. But I will say to you that the school acted swiftly, they acted aggressively and they administered appropriated disciplinary action,” said Bob Mosier, chief communications officer of Anne Arundel Public Schools.
As parents left the school, there’s hope the community will begin to heal.
“I am very confident that Ms. Davenport and the staff at the school is going to do everything they can to keep all of our children safe,” said parent Sheri Paris.
“I just hope that we can all come together, not just here at the school, but as a society,” said parent Lisa Smith.
Anne Arundel County Public Schools Superintendent George Arlotto released the following statement:
“I want to thank Police Chief Tim Altomare, State’s Attorney Wes Adams, County Executive Steve Schuh, and their staffs for their thorough and expeditious work to identify a suspect in the online post that threatened violence at Arundel High School this week. The anonymity of the internet provides a murky and complex disguise for many who want to threaten the safety and security of our communities. Our partners in the Police Department and county government peeled back that disguise quickly in this case, in the process reassuring parents, students, and staff that our schools are safe places in which to educate our children.”
