Police: Suspect charged in Greenwich High ‘disturbing message’ incident is girl, 15
GREENWICH — A “disturbing message” found in a girls bathroom late last week at Greenwich High School was allegedly created by a 15-year-old girl, who now faces charges in the incident, according to local police.
Police did not release any other additional specifics this week about the incident on the morning of Dec. 9, other than to provide the age and gender of the juvenile suspect. Her name has not been released.
The message was found last Thursday, Dec. 9, in a bathroom, and the juvenile suspect was apprehended and arrested Friday, Dec. 10, police said. There was a large police presence at GHS on both days as a result of the incident, which was deemed not credible by police.
The 15-year-old girl was charged with first-degree threatening, third-degree criminal mischief and breach of peace in connection with the incident, according to police. The criminal case was sent to Juvenile Matters at state Superior Court in Bridgeport, due to her age, police said.
No other information about the case will be released, according to Greenwich police Lt. Martin O’Reilly.
Officers were sent Greenwich High after the message was discovered at about 9:30 a.m. Thursday.
The next day, a half-dozen police personnel, including detectives, were dispatched again to Greenwich High, both inside and outside, to provide a sense of security, police said.
At the time, police and school officials said there was no imminent threat to GHS.
Additional counseling support was available at GHS for students because the incident “caused a great deal of anxiety,” Superintendent Toni Jones said in an email to families and staff.
Classes continued both days, while a number of social-media posts triggered by the incident rattled the school community.
“We are asking to work together as a community to stop the spread of rumors about dangerous weapons, using individual student names, and other social media untruths which are circulating,” Jones said in the email.
Prank or not, still a threat
Police took these threats seriously, “regardless if the threat was meant as a prank or not,” Police Capt. Mark Zuccerella said last week.
“While the threat was not credible, these matters are taken seriously,” Jones said in a statement sent via email to families and staff Friday evening.
Jones, in her note, said social media posting complicated
the situation.
“For those of you with children on social media, we encourage you to have a discussion about the responsible use of social media and the need to report immediately if they see something which is disturbing. After our investigation, it appears that a social media post was being circulated almost 30 minutes before GHS administration were notified. Students were upset and teachers had no idea what was happening. Please reinforce the saying. ‘If you see something, say something,’” Jones wrote.
The Greenwich incident followed a number of other cases of threatening messages, triggering a police response, at schools around the region this month, including Norwalk and Danbury. A 14-year-old male from Norwalk was charged with numerous criminal complaints after allegedly making multiple false threats at Norwalk High School over the last week.