A Homer teen has been arrested for terroristic threatening in the second degree following comments he made on social media, in which he threatened to commit a school shooting. Homer area schools were placed on a “soft lockdown” Tuesday after the Homer Police Department was made aware of threats until the suspect was taken into custody.
The Homer Police Department said in a Tuesday press release that they received a tip from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Anchorage office around 8 a.m. that a 16-year-old from Homer had made “multiple statements” on TikTok Live “that he was going to shoot up a school that day and he would be the next serial killer.”
A dispatch from the Alaska State Troopers says that, in addition to making comments threatening a school shooting on a TikTok live video, the suspect made additional threatening statements to the person who was conducting the livestream.
The HPD release says that the department contacted the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District to advise them of the threat and to suggest that schools be placed on a “soft lock down.” At the time, the release says, Alaska State Troopers were en route to the teen’s residence, located outside of Homer City Limits.
The police department informed the school district after troopers made contact with the teenager that the lockdown could be “ease(d).” The suspect was arrested and transported to the Kenai Juvenile Intake Facility, according to the release. Per the Alaska State Troopers, the school lockdowns were lifted once the suspect was taken into custody.
In a Tuesday letter to Homer High School families, Principal Douglas Waclawski confirmed notification of a “perceived threat to the safety of students and staff at a non-identified Homer Area School.” Waclawski goes one to say that the threat was “not valid” and that schools were safe.
“As we do with any threat, the KPBSD took the matter very seriously and worked with the Homer Police Department,” Waclawski wrote to families.
The suspect was placed under arrest for terroristic threatening in the second degree, per the Alaska State Trooper Dispatch. Alaska State Statute 11.56.810 says that someone commits that crime when they make a threat “that a circumstance dangerous to human life or property exists or is about to exist.” The crime is a class C felony.
The Alaska State Troopers dispatch can be found at dailydispatch.dps.alaska.gov.
Reach reporter Ashlyn O’Hara at ashlyn.ohara@peninsulaclarion.com.
