Eighth-grader charged with scare at school

NEWARK — A Newark eighth-grader was arrested Tuesday after school officials say he threatened violence at his school.

Daniel Spence II, 14, faces delinquency charges of making terroristic threats and aggravated menacing, according to a complaint filed in Licking County Common Pleas Court’s juvenile division Wednesday.

Newark police were contacted by staffers at Liberty Middle School after reporting that Spence made threatening comments over several days “about shooting up the school and shooting a certain group of students at the school,” according to documents.

Spence also “speaks frequently about school shootings to others students” and “specifically named two individuals who he would shoot,” according to documents.

“No matter what the threat was, he did not have the ability to carry out the threat,” said Sgt. Scott Snow, a spokesman for the police department.

Newark police said in a release that Spence admitted to making the comments.

He was taken to the Newark police station on Tuesday by his parents and subsequently placed in custody of the Multi-County Juvenile Detention Facility in Lancaster.

Spence does not have a prior juvenile record in Licking County.

His arrest was the latest in a spate of juveniles arrested and charged for threatening violence at schools following the Feb. 14 mass shooting that killed 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Florida.

In Licking County alone over the past couple of weeks, a half-dozen other students have been charged as juveniles after allegedly saying they planned to shoot people at their schools.

Officers have increased their presence on school campuses throughout the state and made it clear that such threats will be investigated and prosecuted, as warranted.