Debbie Blank
Investigators may have solved the so-called Dooms Day threat at East Central High School.
Joshua Ellis, 18, Hidden Valley Lake, was arrested March 23 for intimidation, a Class D felony, reported Aaron Negangard, prosecuting attorney for Dearborn and Ohio counties.
“I am going to bring a gun to school an kill everyone” was written on a girls’ bathroom stall March 19, said Detective Wally Lewis, who is investigating the crime with Detective John Vance of the Dearborn County Sheriff’s Department Special Crimes Unit.
On March 20 a 17-year-old female from the Sunman area also was arrested for intimidation in connection with the same incident.
“The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty,” the prosecutor pointed out.
Negangard praised the detectives for conducting “an excellent investigation.” Persons with information regarding recent ECHS threats should contact the Dearborn County Sheriff’s Department at (812) 537-8730.
“This note was one of a number of recent events at East Central High School that has caused one evacuation and has disrupted school activities to the point that students were required to be searched prior to entering the school,” said Negangard.
The school was emptied in mid-March after a bomb threat. A loaded gun was found in a vehicle in the East Central High School parking lot Nov. 15 and a message in two Sunman-Dearborn Middle School girls’ rest rooms stated that a bomb would explode there Nov. 16 or 17.
Debbie Blank can be contacted at (812) 934-4343, Ext. 113; or debbie.blank@cnhimedia.com. To comment on stories, visit batesvilleheraldtribune.com.
