Benton, Louisiana Student Arrested for ‘Terrorizing’ Due to Social Media Post
According to a release from the Bossier Sheriff's Office, another local student has been arrested and charged with 'terrorizing'.
Bossier Sheriff Julian Whittington says that a 13 year old Benton Middle School student has been arrested and charged following posts on social media. According to the Bossier Sheriff, a concerned parent contacted deputies after seeing concerning 'threats' posted by the student on social media.
While details are sparse about the incident other than the arrest itself, very similar issues have popped up pretty frequently recently in our area.
Back on September 9th, the DeSoto Parish Sheriff's Office investigated alleged threats made against several local schools on TikTok. Then, in East Texas, there were several incidents within a couple of days. There was a similar threat made on Snapchat that was made in DeSoto Parish. Neither of the threats were deemed to be 'credible', but the investigations remain open.
Then, on September 13th, a student in Cass County Texas was arrested for terrorizing for threats they made on social media. In that instance, the student claimed it was just a 'hoax' but the charges they are facing are very real.
Due to the rise of school violence across the nation, there's a zero tolerance policy for anything that can even be remotely considered a threat or threatening. All law enforcement agencies are urging parents & educators to talk to kids about the seriousness of the situation.
Following today's arrest, this was the message issued by the Bossier Parish Sheriff's Office:
Sheriff Whittington would like to encourage parents to discuss the dangers of making threats on social media or otherwise with their children, and to emphasize that there are consequences for these actions even if they are deemed to be false.