Police arrested a 14-year-old boy after he posted a threat against Adam Stephens Middle School Tuesday night, the Salem Police Department announced in a news release Wednesday.
The threat was not credible, according to department spokeswoman Angela Hedrick.
Salem police received reports Tuesday night from people concerns about an Instagram post which threatened the safety of the middle school campus on Wednesday.
Police worked with Salem-Keizer School District security “to implement extra safety precautions on the campus,” according to the news release.
Stephens Principal Ricardo Larios notified families of the threat late Tuesday night.
Salem police posted a statement on social media about the threat around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday. The department said around 9:45 a.m. that the person who made the threat was in custody.
“Detectives from the Strategic Investigations Unit worked through the night to identify the origin of the message which professed violence at the school,” the release said.
Police determined the home where the message originated, contacted its residents and learned that a teen who lived at the home had posted a graphic with the threat on Instagram.
The teen was arrested Wednesday and lodged at the Marion County Juvenile Department on a charge of first-degree disorderly conduct.
The Salem Police Department does not publicly identify juvenile defendants and said it would not release any additional information about the incident.
The arrest comes about three months after three 13-year-old girls were charged in connection with a hoax threat against Crossler Middle School.
Salem police also received several reports in November 2022 of online threats to Parish and Houck middle schools but said the messages did “not appear to be credible” after investigating them. A 12-year-old boy was arrested in that incident.
Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: [email protected] or 503-929-3053.
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Ardeshir Tabrizian has covered criminal justice and housing for Salem Reporter since September 2021. As an Oregon native, his award-winning watchdog journalism has traversed the state. He has done reporting for The Oregonian, Eugene Weekly and Malheur Enterprise.
