Michigan kids as young as 9 made ‘Copy-Cat’ threat during wake-up of Oxford school shooting, officials say

Authorities in Michigan are sounding the alarm about a worrying trend in the wake of the deadly Oxford High School shooting — an increasing number of children are threatening violence with their classmates, including some children are reported to be as young as 9 years old.

In one Michigan county, nearly two dozen children were charged within days.

“We have charged 18 youths over the past few days with school-related offenses. There has been a lot of writing about these types of cases lately, but these serious events continue to happen,” said Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy speak in a statement on Wednesday.

The threats have not stopped, with disruptions at several Detroit-area high schools after 12-year-olds were allegedly threatened with violence, Worthy told reporters. At least one middle school was also subject to threats, and a student at a Detroit academy in grades five through eight is believed to have a weapon.

In neighboring Oakland County, disturbingly violent talk has tended to be more youthful, with two 9-year-old elementary students being detained by police for “naughty/nice” lists Police said the students were listed as “dead” or “survived.”

In a press release, Waterford Police Chief Scott Underwood detailed several recent incidents that led to criminal charges against students.

“An eighth-grader at Pierce High School told another student that he brought a gun to school and at one point threatened with his hand, mimicking a gun being fired,” the statement said.

“The administrators at the Oakland Scholarship Charter School have implemented [police] learned of an 8th grader who stated his plans ‘if I were a school shooter’, including the type of gun as well as the time and place. “

The constant threat of violence meant that Michigan students, many of whom are still reeling after four Oxford High School students were shot in the hallway last week, have been unable to grieve.

“People are making threats. They’re saying ‘I’m going to bomb the school. I’ll kill people,” Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit told third reporters.

Savit said two middle school students have been charged in connection with threats in his district. At least five students have also been charged in Macomb County.

The worrying increase in threats is not limited to Michigan. Four students at Miami-Dade Public Schools were arrested in just three days this week after allegedly threatening to attack high schools in South Florida.

Combined with the wave of threats, reports have also surfaced kids go to school with their parents’ guns. A second grader in St. Louis brought a loaded gun to school Friday “to show it to his classmates,” authorities said.

Two days earlier, a kindergarten student accidentally brought a backpack to school containing his parents’ guns.

No charges were leveled in either case as authorities determined no offense was committed.