ST. LOUIS COUNTY — The teenager accused of threatening to shoot Ritenour High School on Tuesday is now facing criminal charges.
St. Ann police Chief Aaron Jimenez said charges of terrorist threat in the first degree, unlawful use of a weapon and resisting arrest have been filed against the 16-year-old suspect in juvenile court. The suspect is currently at the juvenile detention center in St. Louis County, but he may be charged as an adult, Jimenez said.
In an Instagram post on Tuesday, the teen, a former Ritenour student, posted a video in which he recorded himself rapping and pointing a gun at Husky Academy and a school resource officer’s vehicle, police said. He tagged Ritenour High School with a hashtag in the post.
Jimenez said the suspect was armed with a Glock with a fully loaded chamber, in addition to one extended magazine that held at least 15 bullets.
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“Think about if we did not do what we did and jumped on this threat,†Jimenez said. “It was only a matter of time before he went in to shoot students, or the school or the staff.â€
Twenty-four minutes had elapsed between when the threat was reported through a and officers arrested the suspect.
A deputy chief, George Ravens, found the suspect in his car in the Husky alternative school’s parking lot, according to Jimenez. The juvenile immediately jumped out of his car and ran.
Ravens pursued the suspect, who tossed his gun as he ran. He was arrested around 2 p.m. Tuesday about a block away from the school.
Jimenez said it’s unclear why the teen threatened the high school, or if he’d gotten into trouble with police before as he’s a juvenile.
Officers are also investigating how the 16-year-old obtained his gun.
“There’s a lot more to this and we’re looking to charge more people,†Jimenez said.
Ritenour High is just one of several schools in the area targeted in recent threats posted to social media.
One school locked down and another school went virtual Wednesday after a series of threats posted on social media targeted at least eight schools in the metro area over the past 24 hours.
Mitch McCoy with St. Louis Metropolitan Police said officers are investigating copycat threats sent to multiple schools. Police are still looking for whoever posted on social media that they’d shoot Lift For Life Academy in the city, causing the school to transition to virtual learning for the day.
McCoy said the threat against the charter school was separate from copycat threats seen locally and nationwide.
“We’ve added police presence in some of those schools,†McCoy said. “We’re working with the security teams at St. Louis Public Schools for adding security presence there.â€
Other schools — in St. Louis and across the U.S. — have reported bomb or shooting threats over as reports of school violence spike nationwide. Florida schools have been “flooded†by threats of violence in recent days, . A wave of threats have also been reported at schools in , , and .
In the St. Louis area, East St. Louis Senior High went on lockdown Wednesday morning after a post on social media threatened violence against the school, district officials said in a statement this morning.
In St. Louis city, acting St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Millicent Borishade said in a letter to families this morning that some of SLPS’ schools were also threatened. The district will heighten security in response, Borishade said.
Tuesday afternoon, after school dismissal, University City School District officials learned of an online bomb threat against the district’s high school on Instagram. And earlier that day, the Ladue Horton Watkins High School also received a bomb threat and canceled classes.
On Wednesday, Premier Charter School in the city’s Northampton neighborhood said “a situation†was brought to the attention of the school’s middle school principals and police were notified.
Other threats were made last week against Ritenour and Normandy High schools.
This week, according to a message to parents, Normandy restricted hallway movement during class time, kept recess indoors and had staff act as hallway monitors.
Jimenez, St. Ann’s police chief, said shooting threats in his jurisdiction have reflected a national rise in shooting threats.
Last year, he said his department received up to six threat reports, which resulted in only one gun found at a home. This year, there’s been eight threats against schools and students.
“This is not something we should become so adept at dealing with,†Ritenour Superintendent Chris Kilbride said at a press conference Tuesday. “But we’re willing to do whatever it takes to keep our students and our community safe.â€
Blythe Bernhard of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.