HUNTINGTON STATION, N.Y. (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) — A 15-year-old student at Walt Whitman High School on Long Island was arrested and charged on Thursday after posting a threat to the school on Snapchat, the Suffolk County Police Department said.
Officers responded to the school, located at 310 West Hills Road in Huntington Station, and searched the girl’s locker, backpack and home in response to the threat.
Following the investigation, authorities did not deem the threat credible.
The 15-year-old was arrested at about 12:35 p.m. and charged with threat of mass harm, a class B misdemeanor, police said.
The defendant will be arraigned in Suffolk County Family Court at a later date, officials said.
South Huntington School District Superintendent Vito D’Elia sent a message to parents using the district’s notification app where he wrote “Please use this opportunity to once again, reiterate to your children the serious nature and consequences attached to any social media posts.”
The district made headlines last year after the school board unanimously voted to add armed guards to the exterior of all school buildings.
“Safety is of paramount importance to South Huntington and the Board will leave no stone unturned to ensure that its students and staff can focus on learning without fear of a tragic school shooting,” Nicholas Ciappetta, president of the South Huntington School Board, said at the time.