APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – An Appleton man was formally charged with making a terrorist threat after investigators say he sent an electronic message to the FBI saying he would “shoot up the school.”
A $10,000 cash bond was set Monday for 23 year old David Etheridge.
Appleton police say Etheridge admitted sending the tip through the FBI’s website. No specific school was mentioned.
According to the criminal complaint, when questioned by investigators, Etheridge promised he would not shoot at any school.
Police searched Etheridge’s house after the arrest.
They say they found four rifles and ammunition, which officers described as “typical of the hunting rifles and amount of ammunition found in many residences in our state.”
Sgt. David Lund with the Appleton Police Department….
“The best I can do to explain to people about those rifles and ammunition is that our investigators weren’t startled surprised to find four rifles and the amount of ammunition that they did, it would be very common in the state of Wisconsin, being a culture that hunts.”
Officers also took several electronic devices from the home.
According to the criminal complaint, Etheridge sent nearly 650 online messages to the FBI over the past two months. The messages were described as mostly explicit language and religious talk.
“Only one of those statements appeared to be related to any direct violence or to committing an act of violence at a school and that was the one reported to us Saturday morning,” said Lund.
According to prosecutors, Etheridge told police he believes he has been receiving subliminal messages through his television.
He also told police he has isolated himself because he feels he is the target of a conspiracy.
When taken to jail, he began to shout about the government “selling his information to ‘the masses’” and claim to be a victim of cyberbullying.
No comment from the Appleton School District.
On Saturday, the district posted on Facebook that it will continue to work closely with the Appleton Police Department to keep all students and staff safe.
Lund said, ” It didn’t appear to our investigator that anyone else was involved or that he had taken any action to any specific school.”
Etheridge is due back in court February 28th.
If convicted, Etheridge could be sentenced to three and a half years in prison.
