Police arrest former student following terroristic threat against Longview schools

LONGVIEW, Texas (KLTV) - Longview Police Department took a former student into custody on Wednesday.

Police say that at approximately 8 p.m. Wednesday, they were alerted to a social media post about a possible statewide threat to schools. As a precaution, Longview’s School Resource Officers were at their respective schools early Thursday, along with Longview patrol officers and investigators, providing extra patrol to Longview school campuses.

Longview detectives continued investigating the threats to determine the validity in the Longview area. While the origin of the first threat was not tied to Longview specifically, detectives determined other threats existed against local campuses that were motivated by the initial social media threat.

With that information, a suspect was identified and a directive to apprehend was issued for a local juvenile who was no longer enrolled in school. Police say the student was taken into custody without incident outside of school grounds and transported to the Gregg County Juvenile Detention Center for terroristic threat, which is a 3rd-degree Felony.

“The detectives acted quickly to ensure the safety of the students and staff. The Longview Police Department thanks the continued cooperation that is received from all the school districts in the city. Please remember, it is important to report any suspicious activity to the authorities to prevent any potential harm,” a statement from the police department said.