Moscow man charged in connection with online threats

Kevin Richert | 03/30/2018

Less than a week after a new school threats law went on the books, Moscow police used the law to make a misdemeanor arrest Thursday.

A Moscow man has been charged with going on YouTube and threatening to “shoot up” two schools, the Moscow-Pullman Daily News reported.

According to the Daily News report, Moscow police received a tip at 3:23 a.m. Thursday from Mansfield, Texas, who noticed a commenter on a YouTube podcast threaten to attack two unnamed Moscow schools.

The suspect’s name has not been released. The threat was unsubstantiated, according to the Daily News, because the suspect does not own any firearms.

The new state law covers school threats that originate off school grounds — including threats made over social media platforms. Gov. Butch Otter signed the legislation last week, and the law went into effect immediately.

Kevin Richert

Senior reporter and blogger Kevin Richert specializes in education politics and education policy. He has more than 30 years of experience in Idaho journalism. He is a frequent guest on "Idaho Reports" on Idaho Public Television and "Idaho Matters" on Boise State Public Radio. Follow Kevin on Twitter: @KevinRichert. He can be reached at [email protected]