Student, 13, Charged in Washington-Lee Scare

A 13-year-old Swanson Middle School student was arrested yesterday after police said he sent anonymous threatening messages to his older sister and two other students, resulting in a lockdown for more than an hour Tuesday at Washington-Lee High School.

The boy, whose name was not released because he is a minor, was charged with making written threats to kill, a felony, and harassment by computer, a misdemeanor. Police say he made the threats Monday night from his home computer while exchanging instant messages with his sister, a 15-year-old student at Washington-Lee.

"The nature of the threat was that she would be killed," police spokesman Matt Martin said. "It didn't specify how that would happen."

Echoing an incident last week that caused Yorktown High School to be evacuated for two hours, the Swanson student used a screen name his sister did not recognize. He sent similar messages, using the same name, to two other Washington-Lee students, police said. His sister reported the messages to a school counselor the next day, and Washington-Lee was locked down for the last two class periods of the day while police searched the school.

Schools have no choice but to take such threats seriously, Arlington Police Chief Doug Scott said, adding that students who make them, even as a prank, face "severe consequences."

The Swanson student was being held last night at Northern Virginia Juvenile Detention Home in Alexandria and is scheduled to appear in court today. Making a written threat to kill is punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $2,500. Harassment by computer is punishable by as much as 12 months in jail and fine of up to $2,500.

Martin said police contacted Internet service providers to identify the source of the messages and seized the boy's computer equipment when they arrested him at his home yesterday afternoon.