According to court documents, a Maine man who was accused of threatening to carry out a shooting at a high school in New Hampshire via social media has modified his plea to guilty.
In April, Kyle Hendrickson was charged by the police with criminal threatening with a firearm. It was alleged that he had posted a video of himself brandishing a gun outside Portsmouth High School, threatening to “shoot up the school.”
Hendrickson was then charged with interstate threatening communications and carrying a firearm in a school zone by a federal grand jury in September. Hendrickson is scheduled to appear in court on December 11 and has stated that he now plans to enter a guilty plea to those charges.
The threat caused Portsmouth to close all of its schools for one day.
New Hampshire school shooting
According to authorities, a 25-year-old man who threatened to shoot up a high school in New Hampshire on Snapchat has been taken into custody.
The suspect, Kyle Hendrickson, 25, was charged with criminal threatening with a firearm, according to Portsmouth Police. He can be seen saying, “Imma gonna shoot up the school,” while armed, in a car outside Portsmouth High School in the video that was uploaded on Wednesday afternoon. According to the police, Snapchat captured the incident and sent it to the FBI, who got in touch with the local police at around six o’clock in the evening. The video would not be made public.
The school was closed as a precaution, and on Thursday, the police and the district issued a joint statement. Although Keaveny stated they were not aware of any threats to staff or students, they said they were unsure of the reason behind Hendrickson’s targeting of the school. Hendrickson wasn’t a student there.
Police said in a statement, “The impact of schools closing today was not taken lightly, but this allowed the police department to focus on the investigation to identify and locate the suspect.” “We value everyone’s patience and cooperation as we worked to maintain the safety of the school community.”
In a message to the community on Wednesday, Superintendent Zach McLaughlin stated that all seven Portsmouth schools would be closed after police alerted him to the threat. On Friday, classes will resume.
“I just want to express how I feel at a time like this. In a statement that was shared on social media, McLaughlin said, “It can be laced with fear, anger, and sadness.” “We value your support during this trying time as we work to ensure the safety of our staff and students.”
An inquiry for a comment was not immediately answered by a Snapchat representative.
Hendrickson was captured in Portland, Maine, more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) to the northeast. His last known address, according to the police, was in Berwick, Maine, and he was known to travel to southern Maine and the seacoast region of New Hampshire. He had a phone number that was disconnected.
Hendrickson’s status as a wanted person will remain undefined until he is apprehended and brought to New Hampshire to face the charges.
It’s unknown if Hendrickson is represented by counsel.
Man Accused of Putting up ‘School Shooter’ Signs Arrested
A man has been taken into custody by New Hampshire police on suspicion of posting potentially dangerous signs that alluded to a “school shooter” and were discovered in three towns, causing lockdowns at several schools on Friday.
The signs were discovered in Barnstead, Epsom, and Pittsfield on Friday. Earlier in the day, the New Hampshire Department of Safety announced that it was conducting an investigation in cooperation with local law enforcement. Just east of Concord, these three towns are situated adjacent to one another. While investigators ruled out any credible threats, the signs prompted increased police presence at all the schools in those areas.
Pittsfield resident Guy Hanson, 61, was taken into custody in relation to the case, according to a statement made by the New Hampshire State Police on Friday afternoon.
Falsifying physical evidence is a felony charge against Hanson, and there are three misdemeanor counts against him: criminal threatening, false public alarm, and false report to law enforcement. His legal representation was not immediately apparent.
Days have passed since the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday, which left 19 children and two adults dead and placed schools nationwide on high alert. At that time, the signs were discovered.
In a picture of one of the signs, the words “School Shooter!” were written in black ink on what looked to be a regular paper plate. What appeared to be extra words were blurred out, according to police, “to protect the integrity of the investigation.”
The Uvalde, Texas, shooting was brutal.
In the final week of classes before the summer break, an 18-year-old gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, killing 19 students and two teachers and injuring numerous others.
Since a gunman murdered 20 students and six teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, nearly ten years ago, it was the deadliest school shooting in American history.
The Uvalde, Texas, school massacre victims’ access to life-saving medical care was impeded by a lack of ambulances, police cars that blocked the path for medical vehicles, and helicopters carrying vital blood supplies that were stationed miles away from Robb Elementary, according to a report released on Tuesday.
The Texas Tribune, ProPublica, and The Washington Post have obtained new records regarding the Robb Elementary massacre on May 24, which resulted in the deaths of 19 students and two teachers. These records indicate that the chaos and blocked roads and entrances caused a delay in the medical response to the shooting.
This was why the police were on high alert with the school shooting signs.