Orem Utah Teen Charged with Making a Terrorist Threat Against School

An Orem, Utah teen was arrested for making a terrorist threat against his school after a social media post he made was turned into police.

See something, say something

A social media post showing a picture of a gun with a caption warning other students not to attend school was reported to authorities by another student; the third such post this week in the city alone. The teenage boy responsible for creating the post has been arrested and booked into a juvenile detention center. The other two incidents did not result in a minor arrest.

Terrorist threats

Terrorist threats, regardless of whether or not the person intended on carrying out the threat are against the law and punishable by jail time or juvenile detention for underage suspects. Utah Code 76-5-107.3. States “A person commits a threat of terrorism if the person threatens to commit any offense involving bodily injury, death, or substantial property damage, and:

(i) threatens the use of a weapon of mass destruction . . . : or
(ii) threatens the use of a hoax weapon of mass destruction . . . ; or

acts with intent to:

(i) intimidate or coerce a civilian population or to influence or affect the conduct of a government or a unit of government;
(ii) prevent or interrupt the occupation of a building or a portion of the building, a place to which the public has access, or a facility or vehicle of public transportation operated by a common carrier; or
(iii) cause an official or volunteer agency organized to deal with emergencies to take action due to the person’s conduct posing a serious and substantial risk to the general public.”

Education and common sense

As terrorist threats against schools continues to increase in Utah, parents are being asked to educate their teens on the legal ramifications of making such threats. In Utah making terrorist threats is punishable as a second degree felony which could drastically set a young teen’s life off course. Any juveniles facing legal trouble for making terrorist threats, regardless on whether or not the threats were going to be carried out, should seek legal counsel accompanied by a parent.