[June 17, 2015, Bel Air, MD] Harford County Sheriff’s Office deputies from the School Policing and Criminal Intelligence Units have made an arrest of a juvenile in connection with a bomb threat made against North Harford Middle School earlier this morning.

At 7:00 am, on June 17, 2015, concerned students and parents alerted deputies from the Northern Precinct and School Resource Officers to a post on the social media site Ask.fm threatening acts of violence at the middle school. Deputies immediately informed Harford County Public Schools of the potential threat, and with the assistance of the K9 Unit, began a thorough search of the school. Additional personnel from both agencies were on site as students entered the building to start the school day.

Continued investigation into this incident, assisted by the Harford County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Intelligence Unit, led detectives to the suspect, a male student, age 12. The student was interviewed and taken into custody at the school, without incident. No weapons were located on the student or in his possession.

The 6th grade student has been charged with making a false statement of a destructive device, disturbing school operations, and making a threat to harm school personnel. He was released into the custody of his parents.

At this time, it has been determined that the threat posted was a hoax and the student did not have the means to carry out the threats. The Harford County Sheriff’s Office takes all threats to community and school safety seriously and will take all necessary steps to investigate any similar incidents.