TREMONTON — Police have arrested a third juvenile in their investigation of a series of threats that disrupted Bear River High School and several other Box Elder County schools in mid-December.

Tremonton-Garland Police Department detectives last week arrested a teenager on suspicion of drawing a sketch on a high school restroom wall Dec. 10 of what appeared to be a handgun and the date 12-13-21.

“That’s the one that started it all,” Sgt. Brian Crockett, police spokesperson, said Friday.

He said the teen has been referred for prosecution in juvenile court, as were the first two suspects who were arrested the week of the threats. Those first two cases allegedly were copycat incidents prompted by the drawing, which created the initial scare.

Police search warrants, recently unsealed in 1st District Court, reveal additional details about the copycat cases.

One warrant described a short video posted on social media that showed “a male individual holding a black handgun and saying, ‘Ready for school tomorrow?'” The warrant said detectives traced the post to a 15-year-old student.

The warrant authorized police to search the teen’s home and any vehicle he used for cellphones, tablets, computers or other devices he used. They also looked for firearms, ammunition, explosive devices or materials used to make such devices.

The second warrant targeted the apartment and vehicle used by a 17-year-old student who was suspected of making a social media post that said, “I’m gonna bomb the school tomorrow.” Similar items to those listed in the first warrant were sought in the second case.

Police said bomb-sniffing dogs found no evidence of explosives at the high school on Dec. 13 and no further risks were suspected after the arrests.

The Standard-Examiner normally does not identify juvenile crime suspects unless they are charged in adult court. Further details of the three Box Elder cases were not available because most juvenile court proceedings are protected from public view.

Crockett said Friday no further threats of violence have been made since the December incidents. Those threats were followed by some in other school districts, he said.

“It went through the state, kind of like COVID,” he said. “But we got through the Christmas break and back to normal.”

In-school classes were canceled on Dec. 13 because of the multiple threats. The high school, Harris Intermediate School, Box Elder Middle School, and Garland, North Park, Fielding, McKinley and Century elementary schools were affected by the closure, with all classes transferred online,

Newsletter