15-Year-Old Charged With Terrorism, Having Weapons

Police say the tech school student threatened to harm classmates

A Norwich Technical High School student is accused of terrorism and threatening to hurt people at the school after two classmates came forward and revealed the 15-year-old's alleged plans.

State police began to investigate after two students found out what their 15-year-old classmate planned to do and reported it, according to the State Department of Education, which runs the school.

State police investigated and said they found an overwhelming amount of evidence. What they found, they would not say in detail, but they took the student into custody in early October and immediately sent him to a local hospital for treatment.

On Wednesday, the teen was released from the hospital and arraigned at a juvenile court in Waterford on charges including manufacturing a bomb, possession of a sawed-off shotgun, an act of terrorism, threatening and reckless endangerment.

In light of the serious allegations, parents are concerned.

"I just think there's too much going on. … It's crazy now. It wasn't like that when I was in high school," Amy Hubley, a parent from Bozrah, said.

"Where's the parents? Why aren't they mindful of what he's doing especially getting material to be making a pipe bomb or some type of a bomb?" asked Tom Schelling of Norwich.

Parents of Norwich Technical High School students received a letter at the beginning of October that said there was a potential incident at the school, but the crisis was averted.

The school didn't provide specifics, but some parents think they should have and that it's alarming that a 15-year-old boy could be facing such charges.

"It's very scary that he would even know how to do it, let alone what's going through his mind," Schelling said.

"You have to have some concerns about that. Any parent is always you know, is concerned about what goes on in school," Timothy Butler, of Norwich, said.

Officials from the state Department of Education said Norwich Technical High School has begun expulsion proceedings for the accused student.

The department released the following statement:

We cannot identify any student or students (FERPA), but we can confirm that we have begun expulsion proceedings for a student at Norwich Tech who was allegedly involved in planning an incident. We understand that there has been an arrest, as well. No one was exposed to any harm as there was an intervention long before any such behavior could be carried out.

It should be noted that Norwich Tech has instituted a program focusing on school climate that encourages students to come forward if they believe another student is having serious difficulty or if there is a threat to others. Thus students take responsibility for their school as adults would in their own community. In this case, two students came forward to alert the administration of their concern over a potential incident. As a result, the student was interviewed by the principal and school resource officer which allowed them to take steps to avert a possible incident.

Tom Murphy

Communications

Connecticut Department of Education

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