Cops: Junior high teen boy posts social media threat about bringing weapons to R.C. Murphy school in Stony Brook
Police arrested a 14-year-old boy Thursday after, they said, he made a threat against his school, R.C. Murphy Junior High School in Stony Brook. Credit: Newsday/John Paraskevas
A 14-year-old boy has been arrested after allegedly making a threat on social media to bring weapons to R.C. Murphy Junior High School in Stony Brook to harm students and faculty, according to the Suffolk County Police Department.
He was arrested Thursday night at his home by police detectives, transported to Stony Brook University Hospital “for evaluation,” charged with making a terrorist threat and arraigned Friday at Family Court in Central Islip, according to a police news release.
“No weapons were found in the teen’s home,” according to the release, which didn’t disclose the threatening words he had allegedly said, on which medium he posted the threat, his name, what kind of “evaluation” he underwent at the hospital or why.
As of Friday afternoon, the boy’s school had already closed and couldn’t be reached for comment.
A call to the district was returned Saturday afternoon by outside spokeswoman Deirdre Gilligan of the district’s PR agency Syntax who declined to provide information beyond a letter sent out by the superintendent, Kevin Scanlon, about the threat.
The letter said, “the individual responsible has been identified and apprehended,” adding: “We will take appropriate disciplinary and legal action against the party responsible in accordance with our Code of Conduct and New York State Law, respectively.”
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
