A 15-year-old Lake Central High School student is facing a potential juvenile charge after allegedly writing a threatening message on her Instagram account, police said Friday.
She is suspended from school, Lake Central School Corp. Superintendent Larry Veracco said Monday.
The girl was arrested Thursday after someone sent Principal Erin Novak an anonymous email at 6 a.m. with the screenshot, St. John Police Chief Steve Flores wrote in a release.
Officers first went to a Schererville address, before realizing the girl lived in Merrillville, where she was arrested.
At the St. John police station, the girl’s mother told her not to talk. She was taken to the Lake County Juvenile Detention Center.
Police forwarded a Level 5 felony intimidation charge to juvenile court, Flores said Monday.
In a letter to parents sent Thursday, Veracco wrote the school quickly called police to locate the girl.
“If yall don’t wanna die I advise yall not to come to school tmr (sic),” he wrote, quoting the message.
“We also want to ask all of our families to discuss the disruption and anxiety caused by these types of threats,” Veracco wrote. They needed to “teach children the importance of expressing anger or disappointment in a non-threatening manner.”
No charges appeared in adult court as of Monday afternoon.
