Cape Cod Man Charged In School Shooting Threat Gets Bail

FALMOUTH, MA — An 18-year-old Falmouth resident who was arraigned on charges that he made threats about a school shooting on Cape Cod will get on bail, a Cape Cod judge decided.

Ian Fotheringham was arraigned on Friday on the charge of threatened use of a deadly weapon in a public building. Fotheringham was detained by the court until a dangerousness hearing yesterday, when a judge set his bail at $2,500.

In August 2025, members of the Falmouth Police Department received "concerning information" about Fotheringham. Specifically, investigators were informed that, allegedly, "Fotheringham indicated that he wanted to shoot up a school."

At the time, Fortheringham didn't specify what school, but he did state, officials allege, that he was refurbishing firearms in his room.

Members of the Falmouth Police Department subsequently searched the residence but didn't find any illegal firearms present.

In early September, members of the Falmouth Police Department were notified by school safety monitors for the Falmouth School District that there was a "suspicious male in the vicinity of a Falmouth school."

"Investigators were informed that school safety monitors located a male walking in the woods in the back of the school," officials said. "Based on their interaction with the male, school safety monitors were very concerned that this male was 'casing' the school."

Falmouth Police officers later identified the man as Fotheringham.

An investigation into Fotheringham found that he stored images of the school shooting at Columbine High School on his phone. Another search of his home led to the recovery of a large 3D printer that officials said is capable of producing a firearm.

On Thursday, around 12:30 p.m., members of the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit, assigned to the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office, and members of the Falmouth Police Department placed Fotheringham