Warren student faces charges for ‘kill list’

A Warren student could face charges for allegedly authoring a “kill list” and another has been suspended after administrators uncovered an online threat, district officials announced Thursday.

The Carter Middle School pupil had been referred to police this week over “concerning statements,” and authorities confirmed the youth wrote about targeting classmates he “was upset with,” Warren Consolidated Schools Superintendent Robert Livernois wrote in a letter to parents.

The county Prosecutor’s Office was expected to determine charges for the 12-year-old, whom police have monitored daily at home, said Warren Mayor Jim Fouts.

The student could face a 20-year felony for allegedly making the threat, Livernois said in his statement.

“Please know that all parents of the students involved were notified and the situation was resolved very quickly with no threat,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, another Carter student has been suspended after posting a threat against the school on social media, the superintendent said.

“Parents, please take time TODAY to review with your children the seriousness of posting things on social media or saying things that will certainly get them in trouble,” he wrote Thursday. “A 20-year felony is serious business. ...”

The discipline follows several other incidents across southeast Michigan in the wake of the Valentine’s Day shooting at a Florida high school that left 17 students and staff dead.

A police investigation into a threat made against Plymouth-Canton Community Schools sparked a soft lockdown Thursday, which led to early school dismissal. The district had another soft lockdown last week.

Also last week, a bullet found in the high school prompted a similar measure in Berkley, and a phoned-in threat brought stepped up police presence at Belleville High School.

The Monroe Police Department and Monroe Public Schools say a middle school student was lodged in a detention center Wednesday after a resource officer found an inactive grenade in his locker and the youth made threatening statements to classmates, the Associated Press reported.

Internet posts prompted Wayne-Westland Community Schools to cancel classes for the district Tuesday.

On Saturday, a 14-year-old Monroe County student at Whiteford High School was arrested for making “terroristic threats,” officials said. A 15-year-old Melvindale High student has also been charged after alleged threats on SnapChat.

Amid those reports, a Warren safety task force met Thursday at City Hall to review communication strategies, collaborations with law enforcement and how to protect students, Fouts said.

“Our goal with this task force is to assure that schools in Warren are prepared for a crisis such as the one on Feb. 14 in Florida,” he said.

The task force is expected to meet again and compile proposals in a bid to “be ready for all emergency situations that may involve police, fire and EMS,” the mayor said. “We need to be very vigilant and all schools need to have this discussion. I’m confident as a result of this we might be prepared for the unthinkable.”