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Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Easton High School Was The Target Of a Planned Attack

EASTON, Md.- Authorities have arrested an Easton High School student accused of planning on using explosive devices and firearms to attack the building and students.
The Talbot County Sheriff's Office reports that on Wednesday, April 25, Easton High School officials received information that a current student at the school was planning an attack on the building and students. The information was initially reported to the Easton Police Department. This initial report and information later led to a location in Talbot County, which involved the Sheriff's Office and the Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office. The Sheriff's Office later took primary control of the investigation.
Investigators said that through the course of initial and followup interviews, the student at the center of the threat was interviewed and subsequently arrested on April 25. The student was detained and charged as a juvenile with the crimes of false statement to detonate an explosive device, and manufacture and/or possession of a destructive device. The Maryland Department of Juvenile Services took custody of the child on the day of the arrest. The student was held in detention pending a formal juvenile detention hearing in the Talbot County Circuit Court.
Formal detention review hearings were held on Friday, April 27 and again on Friday, May 4, which determined that the child should remain in the custody of Juvenile Services. It was at the May 4 detention hearing that the Talbot County State's Attorney's Office dismissed the charge of false statement to detonate an explosive device. An additional detention hearing was conducted on Friday, May 11, and the court determined that the child be released to the custody of family. It was stipulated that the child be monitored through the use of a GPS electronic ankle bracelet.
The Sheriff's Office said that through the course of the investigation, it was determined that a formal plan was being designed and staged for initiation that would involve the potential use of explosive devices and the use of firearms to assault the building and the students inside the facility.
As this investigation moved forward, police executed a court-issued search and seizure warrant on a home in Talbot County. The Sheriff's Office said that as investigative materials and items of evidence were collected in this case, a subsequent court-issued search and seizure warrant was served on specific electronic devices associated with this investigation. A third court-issued search and seizure warrant was subsequently obtained for a computer seized as evidence in this case. That warrant and computer are currently under the control of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms computer forensic services section for analysis.
The Sheriff's Office said that through the course of this investigation, there was full and complete cooperation from school authorities. Police said the established protocols of notification, student access, and control and security of information and evidence were followed.
Investigators said the timely report, receipt and action on the information initially divulged in this case was paramount to the immediate arrest, recovery of evidence, and termination of a tentative proposed attack plan.
The investigation into this incident is continuing

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