Eighth-grader arrested for threatening mass shooting at Charlotte middle school, police say

CHARLOTTE — An eighth-grade student in Charlotte was arrested and is facing criminal charges after allegedly threatening a mass shooting at their middle school, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department on Monday.

CMPD says a school resource officer at Southwest Middle School got a tip about a message on Instagram threatening a mass shooting last Monday.

Officers with CMPD were able to track the account that posted the threat and found it belonged to the eighth-grade student. Police went to the student’s home, and the student admitted to making the threat, according to CMPD.

Police officers arrested the student; it’s not clear what criminal charges are pending. A social media post from CMPD says that officers didn’t find any weapons inside the student’s home.

The student hasn’t been identified.

CMPD said that a second student shared “an additional post that could be perceived as a threat,” but that student wasn’t arrested. Administrators are Southwest Middle School say they’ll be handling school discipline for the two students.

The threats were made at the beginning of a week that saw numerous other bomb threats at local schools in the area, prompting evacuations and school cancellations.

At least two suspects have been identified in connection with those threats.

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