UK Teen Threatens To Shoot Up 4 Oakland County Schools: Officials

OAKLAND COUNTY, MI — A teenager from the United Kingdom was arrested after he threatened to shoot up four Oakland County schools while pretending to be Ethan Crumbley, who authorities said opened fire in Oxford High School on Nov. 30, the Oakland County Sheriff's Office said.

The UK teen was arrested on April 13 in the United Kingdom, five days after making the threats against the high schools. Officials said Homeland Security was working with United Kingdom officials to determine possible charges against the teen.

The UK teen was released to his parents as officials continue investigating the incident, officials said.

Using a British accent, the 16-year-old teen called Oxford High School and claimed to be Crumbley, saying he was depressed and was going to "shoot up the school" and "finish" the job he started, officials said.

The teenager called the school again using a fake Indian accent and said he was planning to shoot students, the sheriff's office said. When school officials asked for his location, he said he was in the school. Police said juveniles could be heard laughing in the background, officials said.

That's when school officials told the teen caller they contacted authorities and told him to hang up the phone, officials said. The UK teen called back a third time and threaten to slap the official if anyone hung up on him.

The teen also threatened Brandon high School and said there was a man in a black pickup truck parked in the school’s parking lot with an AR-15, planning to shoot up the school, officials said. When officials called the number back, the teen claimed to be Crumbley and refused to tell officials his location.

Similar threats were made against Cranbrook High School in Bloomfield Hills and Lake Orion High School, the sheriff's office said. Officials determined that the same phone number was used to threaten both schools.

Because of the area codes, officials initially thought the calls came from Florida and New York State. But officials later traced the calls to the UK teen. Overall, the Oakland Sheriff’s Office, Bloomfield Hills Department of Public Safety and 13 other agencies nationwide were involved in tracing the call.