11-Year-Old Girl Charged for Making School Threat

An 11-year-old student has been charged for allegedly posting a threat on social media that suggested gun violence would occur Tuesday at Sierra Middle School.

The 11-year-old girl, who police will not publicly identify because of her age, was charged with making a threat of a school shooting. She received a Class III Juvenile Citation and was turned over to the custody of a parent.

Late Monday evening, Las Cruces police received information from Meta security of an alleged threat posted to an account on Instagram. The Instagram post alleged a shooting would occur at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at Sierra Middle School.

Meta forwarded account information including the email address associated with the account, the IP address and other user information.

Las Cruces police, with assistance from staff at Sierra Middle School, interviewed the girl who admitted to posting the threat on Instagram. A search of the girl’s backpack yielded no firearms or weapons.

The Juvenile Probation Office was contacted but they denied detention because of the girl’s age. A Juvenile Class III Citation is equivalent to a Criminal Citation, or an arrest without detention.

Anyone who sees or receives a threatening post is asked to refrain from forwarding it to others, or reposting it, as doing so may cause unnecessary fear and widespread panic. Police encourage anyone who sees or receives information that is believed to be threatening to screen-save the content and immediately alert law enforcement by calling 911.