13-Year-Old Girl Arrested For Making School Shooting Threats

PAULDING COUNTY, GA — A 13-year-old girl, who attends East Paulding Middle School, has been arrested and charged with making terroristic threats for saying she was going to "shoot up the school," according to the Paulding County Sheriff's Office.

Sheriff’s deputies were contacted by a parent Wednesday and told them her child heard another student make threats to “shoot up the school” tomorrow. The parent stated that the shooting would occur at East Paulding Middle School Thursday, March 1, at an unspecified time.

Detectives with the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office Juvenile Investigations Division immediately went to work and located the student who made the threats. As a result of interviews with witnesses and the girl was arrested.

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Police said the girl was arrested but not detained by the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice which means that she was released back into the care of her parents. Whatever disciplinary sanctions imposed by the Paulding County School District on a student, by their policy, will not be released to the public.

The arrest comes one day after a 17-year-old North Paulding High School student was arrested Wednesday after falsely saying someone was trying to enter a classroom with a gun. Ava Nicole Paige Casteel, a junior, was arrested and charged with felony making a false statement, felony false public alarm, disruption of a public school and false report of a crime.

"We want to encourage parents, students, and teachers to continue to report any and all threats to school administrators and to the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office," reads a post on the sheriff's Facebook page. "The Sheriff’s Office will investigate every single threat made against a student, teacher, or a school in Paulding County. If there is enough evidence to support criminal charges, we will pursue them. We also want to remind parents to please talk to your children and stress the importance of the consequences for making these types of threats.

The sheriff's office clarified how juveniles are charged with criminal offenses in the State of Georgia.

"In the State of Georgia a juvenile is considered to be anyone under the age of 18," reads the Facebook post. "However, and this is something that most people do not understand; an individual can be considered to be both an adult and a juvenile at 17 years old. If a 17-year-old commits an offense that would warrant them going to an adult jail, they are charged as an adult and go to an adult jail. That also means that their mugshot or booking photograph along with their charges are subject to the Georgia Open Records Act and are open for the sheriff’s office to release or anyone from the public to access this information.

"If a 17-year-old commits a “status offense” they would be subjected to the penalties and sentences of the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice and the Juvenile Court System," continues the post. "Some examples of status offenses are runaway, truancy, disorderly juvenile, disobedient to parents (continuously), and curfew violation. We hope this explanation clears up some of the confusion that was swirling around on social media yesterday regarding the arrest of the 17-year-old student at North Paulding High School."

Photo courtesy Paulding County Sheriff's Office