Oakland Teen Faces Terrorism Charges on 'After School' App Threats

Apple has pulled its “After School” application from its online store after complaints students across the country were using it to anonymously threaten or bully their peers and transmit sexually explicit content. In Michigan, two students face serious felony charges. (Screenshot)

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This story has been updated with arraignment information.

A metro Detroit student has been charged with making a terrorist threat and using a computer network in the commission of a crime after he allegedly used Apple’s controversial After School app to threaten a school shooting he promised would “be bigger than Columbine.”

Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said Jacob Young, a 17-year-old Brandon High School student, would be charged as an adult, The Detroit News reports. He was arrested Wednesday and arraigned Thursday.

The student allegedly used the anonymous posting app to make threats that included: “Tomorrow I’m gonna shoot and kill every last one of you and it’s going to be bigger than Columbine, just wait.” Attached to the message was a picture of someone wearing a “Natural Selection” T-shirt while holding a shotgun. In the April 1999 Columbine massacre, two teenagers killed 13 of their classmates and a teacher before taking their own lives.

During his arraignment by videoconference in 52-2 District Court, Young’s lawyer said his threats weren’t literal and he only meant to show how the smartphone application could be used to anonymously taunt students, The Oakland Press reports.

“If you look at this in a commonsense light, this is a kid trying to make a statement that went horribly wrong,” said attorney Deanna Kelly. “He intended to make a statement, but he didn’t intend to terrorize anyone.”

Young’s bond was set at $5,000 cash or surety. As a condition of release, he will be confined to his home, with a GPS tether, is not allowed on his school premises or to have contact with other students, and is prohibited from using electronic devices, including phones. The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office is permitted to search his home at any time for weapons.

Both charges are 20-year felonies.

The Michigan incident was one of a spate of school threats nationwide, and Apple has removed the After School App from its online store. The application, which allows users to post anonymous messages that only other students at their school can see, immediately caused a stir after it was launched in October.

Its developers temporarily removed the app from the online store and enhanced the filters, but the problems persisted.

TechCrunch reported the app’s creators helped authorities track down the suspect in the Brandon High School case.

“This Wasn’t a Prank”

Bouchard, the sheriff in Michigan, said the threats began Monday night. In all, about 17 messages and five photos were sent. Students were warned to stay home to avoid the violence. Attendance at the high school, where 1,200 students are enrolled, dropped to 750 at the start of school, and then to about 250 by the end of the day.

Bouchard said several parents decided to keep their kids home or pull them from school early as concern grew over the threats.

“This wasn’t a prank,” he said. “There’s nothing funny about putting parents, students and staff in fear for their safety.”

The teen did have access to weapons, WWJ/CBS Detroit reports.

Brandon School Superintendent Matthew Outlaw said in a note to parents that “this may be great time to talk to your sons and daughters about social media. There is nothing that is truly anonymous in this forum and their involvement in social media needs to be very responsible.”

“…We will continue to learn and adapt as a school system,” he wrote.

Another Area Teen Charged

This week’s incident isn’t the only threat of violence made in Michigan via the After School app. Last week, Neil Bindschatel, 18, was charged with malicious use of a telecommunications device after he allegedly threatened to bring a gun to school, the Observer & Eccentric reports.

Flushing Superintendent Timothy Stein said at the time that township police were in communication with the FBI.

School officials at three Livingston County schools – located in Hartland, Howell and Pinckney – warned parents that students often used the app to transmit sexually explicit material. So did the superintendent Huron Valley Schools in Washtenaw County, who told parents the app had been blocked from the school’s network, but students could still access it on their own networks.

Juliana Davis, a student at Genesee County’s Swartz Creek High School, started an online petition asking Apple to remove the free app from its iTunes store. It’s unclear what effect the petition, which garnered 3,835 signatures, had on Apple’s decision to remove it.

In her petition, Davis wrote that bullying is already an “enormous problem” for high school students, “and adding anonymous apps like these into the mix only makes things worse.”

“With the shield of anonymity, users have zero accountability for their posts, and can openly spread rumors, call classmates hurtful names, send threats, or even tell someone to kill themselves – and all of these things are happening,” Davis wrote.