Student charged in Thursday's school threat

ALAMOGORDO – The 14-year-old student who made a verbal comment to start shooting at Alamogordo High School Thursday was referred to the Juvenile Probation Office for possession of a deadly weapon on school premises and interference with a member of staff, an Alamogordo Police Department spokesman said.

The 14-year-old boy was jailed at the Otero County Detention Center to await transportation to a juvenile facility pending his appearance in 12th Judicial District Children’s Court.

APD Lt. Dave Kunihiro said Alamogordo police take any threat seriously.

“The boy had a type of homemade shank but it was kind of like a screwdriver,” Kunihiro said. “I would classify it as a homemade shank. He disrupted the normal flow of education.”

According to an Alamogordo Public Schools press release, APS received information of a possible threat at the high school around 10:28 a.m. Thursday.

With the Alamogordo High student being referred to the JPO, it marked the fourth arrest of a New Mexico teen for making threats to a school over a two-day period. The Las Cruces Sun-News reported that Las Cruces police charged 18-year-old Ernest Padilla for one count of unlawful carrying a deadly weapon on school premises.

A San Juan County teenager made a bomb threat Wednesday and a 16-year-old Belen boy threatened to carry out a school shooting Thursday, the Associated Press reported.

According to a Ruidoso News article, a threat posted on Snapchat late Wednesday prompted Ruidoso School Superintendent George Bickert to request beefed up security from Ruidoso police at their high school and middle School Thursday and Friday.

Alamogordo police began receiving calls from residents regarding a threatening Snapchat post Thursday evening, Kunihiro said.

“Basically, Thursday night we started receiving calls of concerns with a Snapchat post that claimed violence at the schools or towards police if necessary in reference to bullying,” he said. “What we learned through the investigation, it’s kind of a post that’s been circulating. It’s been reported that law enforcement agencies all over the state of New Mexico that different jurisdictions including ours are investigating it.”

He said APD detectives do not believe the threat is from the Alamogordo area at this time.

“Of course, we can’t rule out every possibility but as of right now we don’t have any ties to our area that we know about,” Kunihiro said. “We’ve talked to Belen, Rio Rancho, Las Lunas and different departments around the state. I don’t know where it originated from but I have heard it has circulated up north in New Mexico. I’ve seen a couple of different ones (Snapchat posts). Some of them have a name on it but I’ve seen ones with a name and without a name.”

He said Alamogordo police always immediately investigate any school threats.

“We look into every call to ensure that the possibility is not here,” Kunihiro said. “We’ve had officers around various schools, both the public and private schools, just to try to prevent anything from happening, not only to ensure their safety but there’s a Snapchat post going around. Although we can’t prove 100 percent it’s not from here, we want to make sure if there’s a small chance, we’re preventing anything from happening.”