Bellevue teen arrested for threatening school shootings on social media

BELLEVUE, Wash. — Two teenagers were arrested by Bellevue police Tuesday morning after threatening to shoot several girls at their high schools over the weekend.

On Monday around 10:30 p.m., Bellevue police responded to a call from three girls who claimed they had received “repeated death threats” from two juveniles, a boy and a girl.

The victims said both teens threatened on social media that they would find the girls at their high schools — Newport, Sammamish and Bellevue — and shoot them on Tuesday, police said. The girls told police the suspect boy was brandishing what looked like a firearm and on video he also showed a loaded magazine.

“During our investigation, we determined that the two individuals knew each other and that this was some sort of disagreement that continued to escalate and eventually escalated into threats of violence,” said Captain Shearer of the Bellevue Police Department.

Police said that as the threats on social media escalated over the weekend, the girls realized that the threat of a weapon being used against them was both “credible and immediate.”

“During our search warrant, we found several guns and weapons that were used in the videos,” Shearer said. “They were waving guns around and pulling out magazines with bullets in them, so the threats were very believable.”

Police said they had reasonable suspicion to arrest both juvenile suspects. After searching the home of the young woman suspect, officers also searched the home of the young boy suspect. The parents of the young boy suspect told police both were in the house, but refused to let police inside.

We all – young people, parents and everyone in the community – must take threats of violence seriously, but especially threats of gun violence – whether in person or online,” said Bellevue Police Captain Shelby Shearer. “Fortunately, with timely and decisive help from the community, Bellevue Police were able to interrupt this escalation of threats, arrest the two perpetrators and take their weapons before a tragedy occurred in our community.

At about 1:35 a.m. Tuesday, while police were obtaining a search warrant for the home, the suspect attempted to flee through the back door, officials said. Police arrested the girl and boy shortly afterward without incident, police said.

“We feel like we’ve prevented something bad from happening,” Shearer said. “As parents, we need to pay attention to what’s happening and talk to our kids about it.”

According to police, Bellevue police later served a search warrant on the home and successfully seized several weapons and ammunition.

Police said the investigation is ongoing and Bellevue police have no information to suggest that the threats against the two teenagers were random or that there was a danger to the public.