15-year-old girl taken into custody after social media threat towards middle school

SIDNEY — A 15-year-old girl was taken into custody after an investigation into a threatening social media post made towards Sidney Middle School.

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On Wednesday, Sidney City Schools administration was made aware of a threatening Instagram post that suggested a school shooting would take place at the middle school on Thursday, according to a spokesperson for the school district.

“Sidney City Schools administration immediately began to work with the Sidney Police Department and Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, who also worked with the FBI, to coordinate investigation efforts,” the spokesperson said.

A suspect, identified as a 15-year-old girl, was located and taken into custody.

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As reported on News Center 7 at 5:30, the suspect has been charged with inducing panic and was transported to the West Central Detention Center in Troy, the spokesperson said.

Law enforcement agencies believe there are no other subjects involved nor additional threats made against the Sidney City Schools related to this incident.

“We are grateful for the swift response from our local law enforcement and the support of the FBI,” said Sidney City Schools Superintendent Bob Humble. “As a result, a suspect was identified and taken into custody. Threats like this are very serious and any student found responsible for making such threats of violence will face consequences as allowable by both District policy and law.”

Kaitlyn Adams, a student at Sidney High School, told News Center 7 that although the threat wasn’t against her school it still hit close to home.

“I would never think it would happen here, but, I think these kids really don’t know what they’re doing,” Adams said.

Adams said she thinks some young people don’t understand how real it is.

“I just think the anonymous thing on social media is not real. I mean, they can track. They can easily track who did it,” Adams said.

Sidney police and the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office will be providing additional security and patrols of the district’s schools for the remainder of the week.

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