Threats of violence roil Fayette County school districts

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Authorities said a 14-yearold Fayette County resident who had a cache of weapons and ammunition threatened to shoot students at Uniontown Area High School.

It was the first of two shooting threats made against Fayette County school districts in less than 24 hours on Thursday and Friday.

The 14-year-old, whose name was not released, was charged as a juvenile with several crimes, including attempting to commit a catastrophe, Fayette County District Attorney Richard Bower said.

Authorities learned about his threat Thursday night after another student recorded the teenager making threats on his school bus.

“He threatened to kill four students and his uncle,” Mr. Bower said. “He said it would have been easy to sneak a gun into the school in his backpack.”

The teenager also said he could shoot people from a distance with a sniper rifle or use a shotgun inside the school to cause a mass casualty situation, Mr. Bower said.

The student who teenager got them, citing an recorded the threats told his ongoing investigation. He parents, who alerted Pennsylvania said the teen’s parents were State Police. being “very cooperative.”

State police went to the Mr. Bower declined to teenager’s home in Henry say what the teenager and Clay Township and found a his parents told investigators. semiautomatic rifle, a handgun, He also would not go a crossbow, throwing into detail about why the knives and other weapons teenager threatened the in his bedroom, according other students and his uncle. to Mr. Bower.

Mr. Bower said the teenager “He just didn’t like them. had “bulk ammo for all That’s what he said, he the weapons.” didn’t like them. What a

The district attorney reason to do something,” would not say who owned Mr. Bower said. the weapons or where the The case will be handled — Jesse T. Wallace, Superintendent of the Laurel Highlands School District in juvenile court, according to Mr. Bower.

Despite the quick action by authorities, extra security precautions were taken at Uniontown Area schools on Friday.

Students walked through metal detectors as they entered the high school as they normally do, but they also were checked with hand-held wands, Mr. Bower said.

In addition, state and Uniontown police were posted at every district school, according to Mr. Bower.

“It was an extreme amount of cooperation between all the entities involved,” Mr. Bower said.

Authorities in Fayette County also were investigating a separate threat made Friday against the Laurel Highlands School District.

Mr. Bower said someone threatened to commit a shooting on Monday at a school in the district. He would not provide specifics about the threat, who made it, or who it was made toward. In response to the threat, Laurel Highlands decided to cancel classes at all schools Monday. State police were investigating, Mr. Bower said.

The Laurel Highlands School District serves North Union and South Union townships, which surround Uniontown.

Superintendent Jesse T. Wallace said in a letter posted on the district’s website that “we take all threats seriously and are implementing the necessary steps ... to ensure the safety of all.”

“Our goal is for all students to feel and be safe in our school environment,” the letter read, “the teaching and learning of students will not falter.”