LA COSTE, TX — A 10-year-old boy is back in his parents’ custody after he was arrested for allegedly threatening to shoot up an elementary school in La Coste.
Parents say they’re glad he was caught before the worst happened.
LaCoste Elementary school parents received an email from Principal Oscar Vega Thursday morning saying a student threatened to shoot up the school.”
“We know news like this can be unsettling. Please talk with your children about reporting concerns to a trusted adult and remind them that making threats of any kind can lead to serious disciplinary and legal consequences,” the letter said.
“As a mom, my heart sunk,” Melissa Garcia said. Her son is a student at the school. “I felt confused, lost, scared, but what made me feel a little bit better was that they had the kid in custody.”
RELATED: 10-year-old student in custody after threat to ‘shoot up’ LaCoste Elementary, police say
Investigators with the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office say they got a call around 9:30pm Wednesday from a mother saying one of her child’s friends sent a message in a group chat where he threatened to bring a gun to school, and allegedly sent the group a picture.
“Obviously something’s wrong… whether it’s here at school or at home,” said Katherine Stuart. Her kids also go to LaCoste Elementary. “That’s not okay for a kid to feel like they need to come and show their anger, you know, and hurt innocent people.”
The sheriff’s office immediately contacted Medina Valley ISD Police who identified and arrested the child. Officers searched his home and didn’t find any weapons.
He now faces charges for falsely alarming and reporting an emergency.
BCSO Deputies and Medina ISD police are leading the investigation. La Coste police chief Richard Gonzales said his officers assisted by providing extra security on campus Thursday morning.
Parents we spoke to say that security wasn’t what they expected.
“That was one of the main reasons why I brought my kid to school today, was they said there was going to be extra police presence,” Garcia said. “Maybe that was the one reason why a lot of kids came to school was just that extra security that didn’t happen.”
We reached out to the MVISD communications team who said there were extra officers at drop-off Thursday morning. There weren’t many at pick-up in the afternoon.
“I’m concerned as a parent, because it’s happening a lot nowadays with the school shootings and like, the threats,” Stuart said.
“You hear about it, you see it, you know — especially what happened in Uvalde, but you just never think you’d be in it,” Garcia said. “It’s mind blowing.”
MVISD Police Chief Ellis Powell wasn’t available for an on-camera interview. He sent us a statement, urging parents to remind their children about the consequences of making threats of any kind.
The student who made the threat is now waiting to see a Bexar County juvenile judge.