Montgomery Co. police say 12-year-old responsible for multiple school bomb threats — but cannot be charged

Jack Moore | jmoore@wtop.com
October 25, 2023, 12:30 PM

The person responsible for making repeated email bomb threats against three Montgomery County Public Schools this month is a 12-year-old who cannot be charged under Maryland law, according to a statement from police Chief Marcus Jones. ... All told, the child is responsible for seven total bomb threats against three schools, the police chief said.

The emailed bomb threats targeted Montgomery Blair High School on Oct. 13, Oct. 16., Oct. 17, Oct. 23 and Oct. 24, according to police. Two elementary schools — Oak View and Silver Spring International — were targeted by a separate email threat on Oct. 15.

Detectives worked with the school system’s IT staff to track down the source of the email, and then spoke with the 12-year-old, “who admitted responsibility,” Jones said. ... However, under a state juvenile justice reform law, which took effect in July 2022, children under the age of 13 can only be charged with offenses that constitute a “crime of violence,” he said.

“It is disheartening to accept that the individual responsible for disrupting the educational process and instilling fear in our community was well aware of the legal limitations surrounding their age,” Jones said in the statement. “They understood that they could not be charged under current Maryland statutes.”

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Editor’s Note: An initial version of this story, based on an earlier police statement, incorrectly identified the schools where bomb threats had been made. The story has been corrected and updated.

Jack Moore
Jack Moore joined WTOP.com as a digital writer/editor in July 2016. Previous to his current role, he covered federal government management and technology as the news editor at Nextgov.com, part of Government Executive Media Group.

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