Ulster teen credited with averting N.C. shooting on MySpace
Here’s another positive story from a couple weeks ago. Basically a 16-year-old girl called the sheriff’s office after a disturbing MySpace chat-room conversation with a 15-year-old boy who claimed to be planning an attack at his high school in North Carolina. He stupidly also referred to a shooting in Greensboro, N.C., in 1979 and the Ku Klux Klan and said he was the Grand Dragon.
Thankfully the girl raised her voice and did something. but where were the boys parents? Why weren’t they monitoring? Didn’t they notice he was a little disgruntled?
Yet another case where if the parents were monitoring internet activity of their child with PC Pandora software, this could have ended sooner. The safety net of a good samaritan won’t always be there…
January 09, 2009
Ulster teen credited with averting N.C. shooting on MySpace
By Meghan E. Murphy, The Times Herald-RecordKINGSTON – An Ulster County teenager’s report to the sheriff’s office last week spurred police to discover evidence and plans by a North Carolina juvenile for a school shooting.
A local 16-year-old girl called the sheriff’s office after a disturbing MySpace chat-room conversation with a 15-year-old boy. The boy told the girl he was planning an attack at Brevard High School in Brevard, N.C., according to a news release from the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office. The boy also referred to a shooting in Greensboro, N.C., in 1979 and the Ku Klux Klan and said he was the Grand Dragon.
Ulster authorities tracked down the North Carolina boy’s identity and contacted the Transylvania County Sheriff’s Office in that state. After an investigation, police said the boy said he intended to follow through with the attack. Police also found evidence and plans for the attack. The names of both subjects are being withheld.
Ulster Sheriff Paul Van Blarcum urged all parents to monitor computer activity and to report suspicious communications to the police.
