Virginia leaders sounding alarm after spike in school threats, multiple teens arrested

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — School, safety and legal leaders across the Commonwealth are sounding the alarm as at least five Virginia teenagers — from Chesterfield County to Newport News — are currently facing charges related to school threats.

Most recently, on Monday, Sept. 23, prosecutors charged a 14-year-old in Charles City County with one count of making a threat of death or bodily injury toward a public school. But this is just one of several incidents across Virginia in recent weeks.

In an effort to increase transparency and create an open dialogue between officials and community members, the City of Richmond’s Commonwealth’s Attorney Colette McEachin hosted a Public Safety and Schools forum to further discuss this topic in Central Virginia.

“This appropriately is the time, given the recent school shootings and shootings by teenagers that we’re all aware of,” McEachin said Tuesday night.

These cases appear to have begun skyrocketing across America after a deadly school shooting in Georgia in early September. The aforementioned five charged teens represent just the handful of cases pending litigation. There have been a total of more than a dozen other reported threats made in Central Virginia schools since school began.

On Tuesday, a Richmond City Public Schools representative explained what the initial steps look like when one of its students is flagged as a potential concern.

This includes mobilizing a “school-based intervention team,” with the potential to bring in a psychologist if the situation calls for it. The representative added that Richmond has “a lot of mental health service providers” within its schools.

Sergeant Stacy Rogers with the Richmond Police Department broke down why it is that, sometimes, things escalate to the legal level.

“When the weapons are discovered on the school [property], then that’s really when law enforcement [becomes] involved,” Rogers said. “As it particularly relates to weapons on schools, the police department always goes through on charges for weapons. We have a zero tolerance for bringing weapons into the schools.”

McEachin referenced a diagram demonstrating the different spheres involved in addressing these kinds of issues. She explained how parents, community, police and prosecutors all need to work together — but so do the students.

Richmond’s top prosecutor added that the majority of those students are good eggs.

“Most of those children never come in contact with the police department or law enforcement or with the prosecutor’s office,” McEachin said. “But, sometimes, for a very small number of children … it happens.”

The most recent local cases all included students 15 years old and younger — however, just a few months ago, a Florida law enforcement agency labeled a Henrico 11-year-old a “terrorist” as he is facing 20 felony charges related to school threats across the country.

Therefore, officials urge parents to both talk to and monitor their students, regardless of age.

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