A Linden High School student has been charged with threatening fellow students and teachers via a series of social media posts made earlier this week, acting Union County Prosecutor Grace H. Park and Linden Police Chief Jonathan Parham jointly announced Wednesday.
Juvenile complaints for making terroristic threats, creating a false public alarm, and cyber harassment have been filed against the student, a 16-year-old female who is not being identified due to her age.
An investigation involving the Prosecutor’s Office’s High Tech Unit, Juvenile Unit, and the Linden Police Department revealed that Tuesday morning, a photo was posted on an Instagram account titled “lhslasthours” depicting a rifle resting on a car’s steering wheel with the caption “11:36 AM.”
Additional captions on other posts on the same account threatened that the author would be “shooting anyone who gets in my way” and warned “do all your little drills, I’m already in the building.”
Linden Police Department patrol units and assisting law enforcement performed a search of the high school, which was placed under lockdown for much of the morning, but no actual threat was uncovered. Students were subsequently dismissed for the day shortly after 1 p.m.
The investigation led to the 16-year-old being identified as a suspect, and she was taken into custody without incident Tuesday evening pending an upcoming appearance in court.
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