A teenager has been arrested in connection to a social media threat that was reportedly made against Glastonbury High School last month.
Police learned about a concerning profile page on Discord on June 11. A Glastonbury student reported the profile page to Youth and Family Services.
Investigators said the profile page on Discord had a bomb threat against Glastonbury High School along with references to the KKK, Hitler and included death threats towards African Americans.
“The initial reaction was shock, and then just upset, scared, worried, just very surprised to even hear that somebody would do something like this,” Bobbi Bowles, a Glastonbury High School parent, said.
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Bobbi and Keith Bowles, the mom and dad of one Glastonbury High School sophomore, are shaken after learning about the social media posts made in June, including the death threats towards Black students.
“It is alarming, and though they were not on the list, most of their friend group is on the list, and our child is African American, so it is very concerning,” Bobbi Bowles said.
While investigating, police said it was determined that the minor Discord account holder was a victim, not the suspect. Officers said another 16-year-old illegally accessed the victim's Discord account and altered the profile page to include the threats.
According to police, the 16-year-old suspect also sent direct messages from the victim's Discord account to others with additional death threats naming specific African American students at Glastonbury High School.
"There is no place in our school community for hate, racism, or violence. This disturbing incident is a reminder to all of the importance of our work to provide safe, inclusive, and supportive learning environments where all students feel respected and valued," Glastonbury school superintendent Alan Bookman said last week about the incident.
Officers believe the threats were intended to target the Discord account holder. Police applied for and were granted an arrest warrant on Monday charging the 16-year-old suspect with intimidation based on bias or bigotry, threatening, computer crime, criminal impersonation, breach of peace, harassment and falsely reporting an incident.
The warrant was served on Monday and the 16-year-old suspect was turned over to juvenile court authorities in Hartford. As of last Friday, that student was no longer enrolled in Glastonbury Public Schools, is not allowed at school events and is not permitted on any school campus.
“It is pretty difficult, because I kind of don't expect these things from Glastonbury High School,” Ryan Alahyari, a recent graduate in the Class of 2024, said.
The topic expected to be brought up during a town council meeting on Tuesday. Community members are planning rally at Town Hall before the meeting, which one alumna plans to attend.
“I want to know what you're going to do about it? If I'm welcome to be here, and if so, what are you going to do to change how people react to people that are different from them?” Heaven Diaz, Class of 2019, said.
The rally is organized by worried Glastonbury parents, but getting support from the local group BLM860. Those attending say they will tell the town council the actions they want taken to protect students going into the school year.
“Monitoring the students, figuring out what the local threats are, and taking reports of bullying seriously,” Ivelisse Correa, BLM 860 Vice President, said.
The Bowles, who have had three kids attend the high school and say they have never before experienced an issue like this, are also pushing for education about bullying and racism. They believe it could make all the difference for their daughter and other black students.
“A kid doesn't just wake up and feel these, these things in just one day. So there had to be series of events that leads up to these thoughts,” Keith Bowles said.
The Greater Hartford NAACP is calling the threats unacceptable and says they’ll be following up with town leaders.
