Mukwonago HS student charged with felony after alleged school shooting threat
WAUKESHA CO. (CBS 58) – A Mukwonago High School student is facing a felony charge of making terrorist threats after he allegedly told his co-workers he was planning a school shooting.
Waukesha County District Attorney Susan Opper says Wisconsin law changed two years ago making threats like this a felony and the student could face up to 3 and a half years in prison.
“If you make a threat that you’re going to cause harm to somebody, damage property and it inflicts fear or causes a disruption in services,” Opper said.
That is the legal definition of making a terrorist threat in Wisconsin.
According to a criminal complaint, 17-year-old Mukwonago High School student Jared Roberts did that when he allegedly told his co-workers at Walmart back in January that on April 20th he was going to “start shooting up the school.”
The co-worker then says Roberts said, “…when he ran out of ammo, he was going to take a knife and continue stabbing people and then figured someone would wrestle him to the ground at which point it would be over,” the complaint states.
Opper says her office takes a hard stance on threats like these.
“Our attitude, our approach here is that it’s not a joke,” Opper said. “It’s not something that should be taken lightly. It will be taken seriously. It will be investigated as a felony offense.”
CBS58 went to Roberts’ home to get reaction from his parents about the felony charge, but no one answered the door.
Opper says if any threat like this is made, her office will use every avenue available to look into it.
“It could be serving search warrants,” Opper said. “It could be getting phone records, going through someone’s social media account. Whatever it takes to try to determine any steps or actions the person may have taken to further their threats or planning that may have gone into it.”
The Mukwonago Area School District released a statement saying in part that "The safety of the students and staff is their top priority and if the threat is deemed credible the student is removed from school."
Roberts is due in court on April 16th.