APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) – A Seymour teen pleaded not guilty on Thursday to making threats against Seymour High School.
18-year-old River Erdmann is charged with one count of making a terrorist threat, while he claims he was just joking.
Erdmann allegedly sent a photo of what looked like an assault-style rifle to his Snapchat group with a caption of “Damon 2.0,” which refers to a previous school lockdown, resulting from weapons in the building.
The conversation was reported by some students to the police.
It was later determined by officers that the weapon in the image was actually an airsoft gun.
Due to the quality of the photo, the orange tip wasn’t visible.
Outagamie County sheriff’s deputies searched Erdmann’s home but only found airsoft pellets and the magazine, according to the criminal complaint.
Erdmann stated that everyone in the group chat was joking about a school shooting, according to the complaint.
Erdmann claims he was being sarcastic when he texted, “Shoots these totally deadly rounds bro. They’re like 50bmg bullets but in a ball. Definitely a threat everyone.”
Another person responded in the conversation “100%.”
Erdmann stated that “in the moment he thought it was funny but knows it is now a lot more serious than he intended it to be,” according to the document.
Erdman’s mother has called it a teachable moment for social media users and that her son would not shoot up school, and doesn’t deserve to spend time in jail for it.
