Jacob Young, the Brandon High School senior who posted online threats to kill everyone in a shooting rampage at school, will face trial in the Sixth Circuit Court.
Judge Kelley Kostin of the 52-2 District Court ordered the case bound over to the higher court with Young facing the same charges on which she arraigned him Dec. 11? one count of making terrorist threats, a 20-year felony, as well as one count of using a computer to commit a crime, punishable by up to life in prison.
‘There was overwhelming evidence to support the original charges,? said Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Greg Glover of the Brandon substation.
OCSO Det. Nick Pung was in court for Young’s preliminary exam on Jan. 20. Young confessed to Pung after being arrested Dec. 10 at his Brandon Township home. The 17-year-old is currently confined to his home on a tether, forbidden to have use of a computer. He has also been ordered to have no contact with BHS students and his home is subject to weapons checks as needed.
Panic spread through the district after a series of anonymous threats first appeared on the ‘After School? smartphone app around 10:30 p.m., Dec. 8. Two of the messages, also seen on Facebook after the threats went viral, read, ‘Im warning all of you Im gonning (sic) to shoot up the school so if you know what good for you stay home? and ‘Tomorrow Im gonna shoot and kill every last one of you and its going to be bigger than Columbine just wait.?
The messages were accompanied by what is believed to be stock internet photos of an individual wearing a shirt with the words ‘Natural selection? and holding a long gun, as well of another person in a trench coat in a school hallway. The threats horrified the community and caused a mass exodus of students from school on Dec. 9 as word spread. By the end of the day, more than half of the students were absent and would not count as a school day by state of Michigan standards.
OCSO dispatched 12 patrol units to the district on Dec. 9, with at least four deputies at each of the secondary schools? at the high school, the middle school, and at the alternative high school, housed in the former Belle Ann Elementary.
Police subpoenaed records from the ‘After School? app developer, Ambient, as part of their investigation, which helped lead them to Young.
Young, a student in the district for several years, has no previous suspensions or any significant disciplinary problems in his past. He has said he made the threats because he wanted the app to be removed.
Superintendent Matt Outlaw had sent a message home to parents less than a week prior to Young’s threats, warning them about the site, which contained inappropriate content and had been used to bully and tease students. The app has since been taken down, but other similar apps remain.
A pre-trial date has not yet been set for Young.