Chardon High School student under arrest for threat at bus stop

CHARDON, Ohio - School life was normal and noisy in the Chardon High School cafeteria on Thursday, but a threat made by a fellow student on Monday is still the topic for students eating lunch.

A Chardon police investigation determined that a verbal threat mentioned to another student at a Munson Township bus stop was serious enough to charge him with delinquency.

The 15-year-old student is in custody in Portage County after Geauga County Juvenile Judge Timothy Grendell decided during a Tuesday hearing that he should remain in detention until a Sept. 20 hearing.

Chardon Police Chief Timothy McKenna said their investigation is complete and will now be handled by juvenile court.

"Student is waiting for his bus, another student approaches and the one student mentions to the other student that, ‘Hey I'm thinking about bringing a gun to school and taking care of the people who don't treat me right.’ Nothing more was said, got to school, he mentioned it to one other student at the school," said McKenna.

"A student had enough sense to take it to the school's authority. They contacted us and we ran with it from there,” said McKenna. “We talked to everybody we thought needed to be talked to, his friends, himself. And we determined that after talking to the juvenile judge that we should go ahead and put him in the juvenile facility down in Portage County.”

Three students were killed and others injured during a shooting in February at Chardon High School. The alleged teen gunman was arrested and is awaiting trial.

Discussions regarding bullying and threats have gone on in most homes with school children since the tragedy. Chardon Middle School parent Tina Coe isn't sure if this was a case of bullying that triggered the threat, but she's had serious discussions about it with her children in the past.

"It's not cool to make fun of anybody. I make sure my kids don't," said Coe. "I tell them if anybody is bullying you to let your parents know, the school, somebody. Make sure it's taken care of, don't handle it yourself," said Coe.

For students or parents who would like to seek help from counselors on dealing with the Chardon tragedy or the current threat, one of the facilities is the Elizabeth Severence Prentice Grieving Center of the Hospice of the Western Reserve at 300 East 185th Street in Cleveland. They have been on-site at Chardon schools for counseling since the Feb. 27, 2012 shooting.

For information go to: www.hospicewr.org