UPPER MARLBORO, Md. — A 14-year-old girl has been charged after confessing to writing threatening emails to three Prince George's County schools on Tuesday.
The teenage student will not be identified, but police say she threatened two high schools and one middle school. She is now being charged with making threats of mass violence, electronic threats mailed to minor, and obscene matter/possession with intent to distribute. The last charge stems from one of emailed threats that contained obscene photos.
Police say the girl did not have means to carry out the threats, but they were still very harmful to hundreds of parents and students who shared them on social media.
Police did increase security on Tuesday as soon as they heard about the threats, and say that they do not take chances.
“We take every threat of violence seriously," explained Chief Hank Stawinski. "We identify the responsible individuals and we hold them accountable under the law for their actions. We conducted a search of this juvenile’s home and we seized all of her computer equipment. Now her family is having to suffer consequences as they now have to work through the legal system with their daughter. The repercussions of making threats such as these are real and should be sobering to any young person. Again, we are strongly urging parents to speak with their children about the serious consequences they will face for making a threat even if it is determined to be a prank. There is no such thing as a prank to threaten mass violence. A threat is a threat and it will be dealt with accordingly based on the fear that they generate in the community. No one forwarded us the threat because they thought it was just a prank. They sent us these threats because they were truly scared.”
