Friday, September 6th 2019, 12:04 pm
One person has been arrested in connection with social media threats made against an Edmond high school, police reported.
Edmond Police peacefully arrested Bryson Burnett, 18, Friday afternoon during a school event off campus. Burnett had a knife on his person at the time of the arrest.
“We believe in this case Mr. Burnett was attempting to impersonate another student by making these threats under a fake social media account in an attempt to get that student in trouble,” said Sgt. James Hamm from Edmond Police.
Edmond Public School officials were notified by a student Wednesday that a threat was made. Police immediately began an investigation.
While keeping an eye on the Snapchat account, another post appeared Friday morning.
“Another post appeared directed at Santa Fe High School which stated, ‘It's time to shoot up Edmond Santa Fe this time I’m not joking, it’s for real,’” said Hamm.
Detectives and school officials worked together to identify the suspect, who left a digital footprint behind to work with.
With all of that underway, classes went on as normal.
“We were (at a) heightened security level while the police were investigating it,” said Edmond Public School Superintendent Bret Towne. “One of the things we didn’t want to do was impede the investigation because we thought in this case this person might have been caught.”
School faculty received over 100 phone calls and e-mails from concerned individuals, causing a major disruption to workflow.
“Had this been a real threat, it takes the students letting us know when they hear something to prevent things like this from happening,” said Hamm.
Burnett was arrested on a complaint under the Oklahoma Anti-Terrorism Act, and faces three felony charges.
According to the Edmond Public Schools Athletics roster, Burnett is on the varsity boy’s cross country team.
Stay with News 9 and News9.com for more information as it becomes available.
September 6th, 2019
November 13th, 2024
October 28th, 2024
October 17th, 2024
February 18th, 2025
February 18th, 2025
February 18th, 2025