Press release from Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office:
Tuesday afternoon the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office charged a juvenile suspect in relation to social media posts made Monday night that contained threats directed at the Erwin School District. The Sheriff’s Office does not believe there is an ongoing threat at Erwin High School regarding this incident now that the suspect has been charged.
The juvenile is a student at Erwin High School, however, the Sheriff’s Office cannot provide the identity of the juvenile due to them being under the age of 18. Information related to juvenile suspects is highly restricted in accordance with North Carolina public records laws.
On Monday night, September 12th, shortly after 8 p.m. the Sheriff’s Office began receiving reports of a threat of mass violence toward the Erwin School District. The Criminal Investigations Division at the Sheriff’s Office immediately began an investigation and worked closely throughout the investigation with both the Buncombe County School System and the School Resource Officer Division within the Sheriff’s Office. Detectives have worked non-stop until late this afternoon, conducting several interviews and executing search warrants and identified the suspect during the course of the criminal investigation.
The Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office takes all threats toward our schools seriously and will investigate each threat using every tool available to keep our students safe. Numerous units within the BCSO assisted with the investigation including the Major Case Unit, SCET, Patrol and the Special Investigations Unit.
“Thank you to our Detectives and Deputies for their efforts beginning last evening and continuing non-stop throughout the night into this morning. Captain Tullis and her team at CID, Lt. Ball and our SROs deserve recognition and our appreciation for conducting a complete and detailed investigation. I will tell you that the Sheriff’s Office will fully pursue any threats directed at our schools,” says Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller.
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