APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A Seymour teen boy was arrested and charged with making terrorist threats. River Erdmann, 17, was arrested by the Outagamie County Sheriff’s Office on Saturday.
Police said the teen posted a picture, of what looked like an assault rifle, on social media last week.
According to a criminal complaint, the 17-year-old also made threats toward Seymour High School.
Erdmann said the whole thing was meant to be a joke.
School leaders and police Tuesday commented on why they can’t treat any threat like a joke.
The teen admits he sent the photo to his Snapchat group.
Seymour police said it included the caption “Damon 2.0,” a reference to another student who brought a weapon to school and caused a lockdown.
Laurie Asher, superintendent at Seymour Community School District tells FOX 11…
“Any time that we do get a report of a threat – any type of threat toward the school district, we really have to take due diligence to really investigate it to the fullest extent.”
Erdmann’s comments in the group chat referenced the weapon shooting deadly rounds, but it was later determined the weapon in the image was actually an airsoft gun.
The court document stated River Erdmann said he was just being sarcastic and meant it to be funny, but Asher says this was no laughing matter.
“You can have dire consequences and, though some people or some of our students may see it as a funny thing or they’re just laughing with their friends, really any type of threat is taken very seriously.”
Erdmann’s out of jail on bond.
His mother spoke with FOX 11 Monday night. She feels her son is being punished too harshly for a sarcastic remark, but she calls it a teachable moment for all students.
Seymour Community Schools superintendent Laurie Asher agrees.
“We took this as a really good opportunity to have the conversation with our students and educate them on this, and we did talk to in classrooms we talked to them about that different types of threats, and the consequences of making such threats.”
The Outagamie County Sheriff’s Office said it will always take these threats seriously because, if they don’t, the result could be catastrophic.
River Erdmann’s next court date has not been scheduled.
If found guilty, he faces up to four years in prison.
