Schools
Phone Threat At Potomac View Elementary School Leads To Charges For Arlington 12-Year-Old
A 12-year-old boy from Arlington has been charged with threatening Potomac View Elementary School earlier this week, police said.
WOODBRIDGE, VA — Potomac View Elementary School was the subject of a threat earlier this week, according to a report from the Prince William County Police Department. A 12-year-old boy from Arlington was charged with threatening the school, authorities announced on Friday.
The threat was reported to police at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday. When faculty arrived at the school, they discovered a voice message that was left on Tuesday, Dec. 7.
In their report, authorities said the message came from an unknown caller and threatened potential violence at the school. Administrators said they contacted police as soon as they learned about the message.
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Later, detectives with the police department's Violent Crimes Unit identified the caller as a 12-year-old boy from Arlington. The boy has not been publicly identified due to Virginia laws that protect the identities of minors. Detectives also determined that the threat was not credible.
On Thursday, detectives charged the boy with one count of threats over public airways. The case will be handled by juvenile court services, police said.
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Potomac View Elementary School is just one of several schools that were subjected to threats this week around northern Virginia. Schools in Manassas Park closed on Friday and pivoted to remote, asynchronous learning after a threat was reported over social media on Thursday night.
Read more: Student Accused Of Threatening Manassas Park Schools
On Wednesday, authorities in Stafford County responded to a number of threats directed towards Stafford Senior High School. The school was placed on lockdown on Wednesday afternoon after someone reported that a student possessed a gun. The threat was unfounded, police said.
Earlier this week, an 18-year-old man from Fairfax County was arrested and charged with threatening Farmwell Station Middle School in Ashburn. Herndon Middle School in Fairfax was also the subject of an online threat earlier this week.
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