Columbine reference lands man in court

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Evan Michael Thompson of Mountain Home who is charged with first degree terroristic threatening after allegedly posting threatening statements on Facebook saying the Norfork school needs a Columbine — referring to the bloody 1999 massacre at the Colorado high school — waived both his arraignment and first appearance in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday and entered a not guilty plea to charges stemming from the incident by way of paperwork filed by his lawyer.

Thompson is being represented by Melbourne attorney, Gray Dellinger. Dellinger filed paperwork this week informing the court he would be representing the 19-year-old Thompson and his client would be waiving formal arraignment.

The not guilty plea was noted by the court, and Thompson was ordered to reappear February 2nd.

According to the probable cause affidavit, the incident began when a senior at Norfork High School was asked by school authorities to remove campaign signs posted for upcoming class officer elections.

The posters involved images of a cat and wording deemed offensive. The pupil involved did not fully agree with the school administration’s decision and made a post on a social media site where he was shown in a video pointing a handgun at the cat saying he must kill the animal because the school thought it was offensive.

The situation allegedly prompted Thompson, a friend of the student involved with the signs, to write in a post on a social media outlet referencing the Columbine shooting. The posting was first brought to the attention of the school resource officer at Norfork and the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office became involved. A school resource officer is a sworn law enforcement officer responsible for providing security and crime prevention services in a school environment.

In addition to the written statements, Thompson is said to have posted an image from the Colorado high school shooting in which 12 students and one teacher were killed and 21 people injured. The two shooters — Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold — took their own lives about 49 minutes after launching the attack. The teens were both students at the school.

According to a news release from Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery, it was decided after consulting with 14th Judicial Prosecuting Attorney David Ethredge the statements and other material posted by Thompson were alarming enough Thompson should be arrested.

He was located at his home and taken into custody. According to the Baxter County Detention Center’s log, Thompson was booked into the facility Friday, September 22nd, at 3:37 p.m. and released after posting a $25,000 bond about three hours later.

Sheriff Montgomery said his office takes these type of threats very seriously and will respond to them in an appropriate manner. He said the safety of students and others in the public school systems in the county is of paramount importance.

Montgomery said, “Comments such as these create significant pubic alarm to cause the Sheriff’s Office to take quick action.”

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