HAMBURG, N.Y. — Hamburg Police say a 16-year-old student is charged following an unsubstantiated e-mail threat at Frontier Central High School Monday.
The teen is considered a juvenile offender. Because of that, the student's name will not be released. Detectives say there was no credible evidence to support the threat.
The charges filed include computer trespassing, harassment and making a terrorist threat.
At a news conference Tuesday, the district said the student hacked other students' email accounts to send the threats while they were in the building. They were able to identify the student by tracing those emails.
The incident forced the school into a temporary lockdown until a search could clear it. The high school canceled all after-school activities as a precaution.
At the news conference, Superintendent Richard Hughes responded to criticism from parents who say the district did not do enough to keep parents informed of what was happening Monday.
"As a father of four myself, I can understand how painful it can be to not know what is happening with your child," said Hughes. "There have been a handful of messages from rightly upset parents wanting to know what was happening. While I wish we had the time to both deal with the situation and communicate all that was happening, every bit of energy had to go to dealing with the situation at hand and ensuring the safety of all of those involved."
The superintendent says the district will be looking at its automated calling system to try to find a better way to get information out to parents when situations like this occur.
Here is Monday's posting from the Town of Hamburg Police Facebook page:
Earlier today, Frontier Central Administration received an email communication of a threatening nature from an unknown source. As a precautionary measure, Frontier High School and Big Tree Elementary administrators have implemented a ‘lockdown’ of those schools while staff and Hamburg Police investigate the matter. Currently, there has been no further evidence uncovered that anyone’s safety is at risk. Again, this is a PRECAUTIONARY measure. Please allow Police and Staff to complete their investigation and we will keep you updated here.