Teen Arrested After Threatening LGBTQ Classmates In Holtsville: Police

HOLTSVILLE, NY — A Medford teen was arrested Monday after police said she threatened LGBTQ students and other girls at her high school in Holtsville last week.

The 14-year-old girl, a student at Eastern Suffolk BOCES Sequoya High School, texted derogatory comments about members of the LGBTQ community to another 14-year-old student around 6:20 a.m. Dec. 1, police said.

She then sent messages threatening to kill or harm LGBTQ people at the school, as well as every girl at the school, police said.

The teen was arrested by hate crime detectives around 10 a.m. Monday, police said. Her name was not released by police as she is a minor.

She was charged with second-degree aggravated harassment as a hate crime, a felony, and making a threat of mass harm, a misdemeanor.

She was scheduled to appear in Suffolk County Family Court on Monday afternoon.

David Kilmnick, president of the New York LGBT Network, called the Holtsville threat "yet another example of how hatred against the LGBTQ community results in senseless acts of violence," invoking the recent shooting at an LGBTQ club in Colorado that killed five people.

"Threats against those in the LGBTQ community should be taken seriously and dealt with swiftly, and those responsible need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," Kilmnick stated. "Long Island seems to be a breeding zone for hate against the LGBTQ community this past year with discriminatory actions taken by the Connetquot School Board to ban Pride flags and an attempt by the Smithtown Library Board to ban Pride books and displays in its libraries. Simply put, these actions and policies are attempts to erase our very existence and it is what leads to teenagers threatening to kill all LGBTQ students at their school."

Kilmnick said he believes that hate speech and discrimination against the LGBTQ community are being sanctioned by adults and could lead to "deadly" consequences.

"It is only a matter of time before we see a Columbine or Parkland on Long Island if we do not put a complete end and stop to the hateful speech, actions and policies attacking the LGBTQ community," Kilmnick said. "Hate speech should never be tolerated or protected by the First Amendment; it is our LGBTQ youth that need to be protected. We are calling on all leaders to step up and speak out against this disturbing trend we are seeing on Long Island and across the country; for law enforcement to speed up these arrests and for our state legislature to strengthen hate crime laws that will ensure these perpetrators stay behind bars for much longer as they are one of the greatest threats to our society.”