Chron – by Heather AlexanderA Houston-area teenager is facing a terrorist charge after allegedly posting Facebook messages threatening to kill people in Splendora, officials said this weekend.
A citywide alert was issued Saturday after police picked up the anonymous messages. One example released to the public by district attorneys read, “I’m going to kill everybody in Splendora on July 13th.”
Several threats were sent out, according to constables at Montgomery County Precinct 4, which led the investigation.
The messages were first brought to the attention of authories by a woman from Beaumont whose child was scheduled to compete in a sports tournament in town over the weekend, Constable Kenneth Hayden of Precinct 4 told the Montgomery County Police Reporter.
“She wanted to know if he would be safe, because she’d heard about the threat,” he said. “Another lady called and said she heard about the threat and went to stay with family in Cleveland, but she had a birthday party to attend in Splendora Sunday and she wanted to know if it was safe to return.”
The messages prompted widespread concern with officials at some local events requesting extra police presence.
“The threat that she broadcast was a general threat to the public that she was going to cause bodily harm to the public in general,” Hayden said.
Hayden confirmed Sunday night that a 13-year-old female Splendora ISD student was arrested and now faces a terrorist threat charge.
Authorities say she had been harassing another 13-year-old student, a cancer patient, via Facebook before making the threat.
“We need to make sure this stops, cyber bullying is something that kids deal with everyday,” Hayden said.
The unidentified girl, who officials say posted on Facebook with the alias Melissa Johnson and using another person’s photo, was arrested at a relative’s house in Harris County, according to authorities.
She was taken to Harris County Courthouse and is now in custody at the Juvenile Justice Center in Conroe.
Authorites from the area’s cyber crime division located the girl using information released by Facebook under a court order.
The social media giant has been accused of stalling the process and heightening the alert because they refused to give out details of the girl’s identity under emergency protocol which would have negated the need for a court order.
Authorities say the decision left them with no choice but to alert the entire city.
“This was a ridiculous delay and not necessary based on (Facebook’s) own criteria.” said Phil Grant, Montgomery County first assisstant district attorney via email. “In emergency situations, they do not require a court order, but for some reason, despite all evidence to the contrary, they refused to comply with their own process,” Grant said.
A statement from Facebook said they did immediately look into the case and lawyers advised that the court order was required.
“We promptly review and respond to all emergency requests. In this case, we reviewed the matter and asked the police to send us legal process or a court order for the requested information,” spokesperson Debbie Frost said in an email statement.
Scott Engle of the Montgomery County Police Reporter contributed to this report.
“She wanted to know if he would be safe, because she’d heard about the threat,” he said. “Another lady called and said she heard about the threat and went to stay with family in Cleveland, but she had a birthday party to attend in Splendora Sunday and she wanted to know if it was safe to return.”
Baaaa…baaaaa…
“One example released to the public by district attorneys read, “I’m going to kill everybody in Splendora on July 13th.”
ALL 1,615 of them? Did she manage to come up with a 1,000 round clip somewhere?
“Authorities say the decision left them with no choice but to alert the entire city.”
ALL 1,615 of them?
Fakebook would DEFINITELY be MY 1st choice for posting death threats. After all, it IS such a great site to remain totally anonymous on.