KIRKLAND, Wash. (AP) — King County prosecutors Tuesday charged an 18-year-old Kirkland student with two counts of felony harassment for allegedly threatening to kill two classmates.
Prosecutors say the student, a Juanita High School senior, posted a threatening message Sunday on Instagram referencing last month’s school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where a gunman killed 19 children and two adults, the Seattle Times reported.
He remained in custody as of Tuesday evening with bail set at $99,000, Kirkland police said. He hadn't been assigned a lawyer, the King County Superior Court Clerk’s Office said. Prosecutors said his arraignment was set for June 27.
In his post, the student urged people not to give him a reason for violence, writing that school shootings are avoidable if everyone is kind to one another, according to probable cause documents.
He also wrote that his father had a gun, sent photos of a shotgun and rifle cases in a direct message to a fellow student and directly threatened another student, documents said.
The student told detectives that he was bullied and had “had enough,” so he made the post to scare people into being nice to him, Kirkland police said. He said he didn’t intend to hurt anyone who wasn’t “guilty,” documents say.
