Grand jury refuses to indict Greece 'School Shooter' rapper Randy Ross

A grand jury declined Friday to indict a Greece man on a felony charge that he threatened to shoot up a school in a rap video he posted online.

Randy Ross was arrested Feb. 26 by Greece police and accused of making “a terroristic threat” in his video, “School Shooter.”

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The video coupled images of Ross, 23, hanging out at Greece Arcadia High School with lyrics of, “I lay ‘em down like a school shooter” and “I’ll show up at your lunch, here (n-word) eat this, four clip let it rip.”

His arrest immediately raised questions of free speech among defense and civil rights lawyers, who challenged whether his lyrics could be interpreted as a legitimate danger and argued that Ross was the victim of kneejerk policing.

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So confident was his attorney, Mark Young, in the charges being “no-billed” that he advised Ross to take the unusual step of testifying in his own defense before the grand jury when it convened Wednesday.

Ross was held in Monroe County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail or $100,000 property bond until he was freed Friday after his case was not among those the grand jury handed up for indictment.

"It wasn't a case," Young said outside the jail as he waited for Ross to be released. "They rushed to judgment here where they shouldn't have."

Young added that Ross may have legal recourse against the Greece Police Department for arresting him without a crime being committed.

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Greece police conferred with the Monroe County District Attorney's Office before placing Ross under arrest. But Police Chief Patrick Phelan said in a subsequent statement that he was "100 percent confident" that Ross committed a crime.

In a statement issued Friday after the grand jury ruling, Phelan said, "While we are disappointed and disagree with that decision, we also respect the legal process that led to that result. We believe it was a proper charge and stand by our decision to make the arrest in this case."

The case drew parallels to the arrest of 21-year-old Abigail Hernandez, who was indicted by a grand jury on Friday on two counts of making "a terroristic threat."

Hernandez was arrested Feb. 20 by Rochester police for allegedly threatening in a Facebook comment to shoot students at East High School. Her parents insist Hernandez has developmental disabilities that make her incapable of issuing the alleged threat or carrying it out.

An undocumented immigrant, Hernandez is in federal custody in Batavia, Genesee County.

Under state penal law, a “terroristic threat” charge carries a maximum penalty of 7 years in prison.

In a jailhouse interview shortly after his arrest, Ross said he never meant to threaten. He explained that his lyrics were within the framework of a song about his rap persona vowing to fight forces conspiring to hold him down.

Ross said he recorded the song six months ago but rushed to film the video to capitalize on the national conversation about school shootings in the wake of the massacre in Parkland, Florida, and draw attention to his music.

The strategy appeared destined to fail until police announced his arrest at a news conference.

“School Shooter” had been on YouTube for a week and viewed about 100 times when police arrested Ross. As of his release, the video had nearly 28,000 views.

DANDREATTA@Gannett.com