CONWAY -- A Conway High School student was charged Monday with first-degree terroristic threatening after, police said, he posted an online video in which he fired a gun and used a hashtag threatening to shoot up the school.
Seth Aldren Stone, 18, was arrested Saturday after the father of another student contacted police. That parent's child had shown him two photo posts and one video posted on the Instagram social media site by a person with "seth" in his user name.
Conway police also were investigating another social media threat, this one involving a 14-year-old Conway Junior High School student.
Police spokesman LaTresha Woodruff said Monday night that the 14-year-old boy's case is not related to Stone's. She said police spoke with the younger boy during school hours Monday after someone reported seeing a Snapchat post in which he said in part, "before I shoot-up the school." He said he was joking in a second post, according to Woodruff.
[DOCUMENT: Read affidavit for Seth Stone]
Police arrested the boy on a charge of communicating a death threat. They did not release his name Monday night.
Earlier Monday, Faulkner County District Judge David Reynolds set Stone's bail at $100,000. Other conditions of release include GPS monitoring of Stone's whereabouts, drug screens, no contact with the Conway School District, and surrender of his passport and all weapons in the Stone family's home. Stone is scheduled to appear in circuit court on Feb. 27.
A police affidavit accompanying Stone's felony charge says the postings included a "'selfie' style" picture of a young man "holding what appeared to be an assault-style rifle." A second photo of "a similar looking young man" who was wearing sunglasses showed his hand positioned as if it were pointing a gun at the camera, the affidavit says. "See you at school tomorrow," said the caption, followed by a cartoonish graphic of a human skull, it adds.
The third post included a video showing the barrel of a gun and a piece of wood being used as a target with an orange bull's-eye.
"What sounds like a young man's voice can be heard saying, 'Y'all thought I was playing' just before the gun is fired," the affidavit says. "A gunshot can be heard, and a hole appears in the target." After the caption, "Y'all though I was playing?" the hashtags #guns, #shotgun and #shootuptheschool appear.
During a police interview Sunday, Stone admitted making the online posts and "admitted that he was the one firing the gun in the video," the police affidavit says. "He insisted the posts were all made as a joke."
Stone's attorney, Frank Shaw, said Monday night that the teenager's parents posted bond.
Shaw said Stone has an "individual educational plan, which means he has some sort of special needs," though Shaw said he didn't know what they are.
"He's not a danger to anyone" and has "a good, stable home," Shaw said. "As many people do with social media, he made a mistake."
Stone told police that other students "often refer to him as a 'school shooter' because he dresses in black clothing," the affidavit says. "He said his posts were essentially just him embracing that joke and playing along. Seth denied having any thoughts about or intentions of actually hurting anyone at his school."
Kenneth Trump, president of the Ohio-based National consulting firm School Safety and Security Services, said Monday that there is no national database of school threats.
Trump said his organization studied 812 threats of violence against schools through the 12th grade in 46 states during the first five months of the 2014-15 school term -- August-December 2014. The information came primarily from news reports, so there could have been additional threats.
Seventy-three percent of the threats involved shootings and bombs. Ohio got the most with 64. Arkansas ranked 18th with 15.
The study found that at least 320 arrests had taken place as of the time of the study with "the vast majority" arrested ranging from 8 to 18 years old.
The organization's website says threats were up 158 percent during that period from the prior year and that electronic devices and social media were behind the increase.
"In the past six months or so, it's somewhat leveled off, but it's still a serious concern," Trump said.
Information for this report was provided by Ryan Tarinelli of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
State Desk on 02/07/2017