Smiths Station student arrested on multiple charges including terrorist threats
SMITHS STATION, Ala. (WTVM) - The Lee County Sheriff’s Office has arrested and charged a 16-year-old juvenile as an adult on multiple charges, including a first-degree Terrorist threat charge.
According to officials, on November 2, at approximately 5:41 p.m., LCSO deputies responded to Smith’s Station High School, located on Lee Road 430, about a subject at the school gym with a firearm.
They say witnesses reported the armed suspect was leaving in a white KIA automobile, and responding deputies observed and stopped the vehicle as it was attempting to leave the school campus. Officials say evidence determined that the 16-year-old had been in a fight with another student.
They say after the initial confrontation, the suspect obtained a handgun from his vehicle and while armed, entered the gym building on campus, threatening to kill the other student. An adult female trainer working with the school’s athletics program stepped in front of the suspect, shielding the student who was being threatened, and told the suspect to leave.
Officials say the trainer stated that the suspect said that he was going to kill the other student as he was pointing a gun in her face. Investigators recovered a 9mm semi-automatic handgun from the suspect’s vehicle at the scene.
The criminal law statutes in Alabama provide that persons 16 years of age are subject to being treated as an adult in certain circumstances where they are engaged in a criminal act and armed with a deadly weapon.
The 16-year-old was charged with the following:
- 1 count of Terrorist Threats 1st Degree
- 1 count of Burglary 2nd Degree
- 1 count of Certain Persons Forbidden to Possess a Firearm
- 1 count of Menacing
The suspect is being held in the Lee County Jail on a $25,000 bond.
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