12-Year-Old Arrested After Mass Shooting Threat: Norwood Police

NORWOOD, MA — A 12-year-old was arrested Sunday in connection with a mass shooting threat at Coakley Middle School, according to Norwood police.

Authorities were notified Friday morning that a group of students had received a text from an unknown number warning that a shooting would take place Monday at the school, police said.

Despite an attempt to mask the unknown number, detectives identified its origin and spoke briefly on the phone with the student they believed had sent the text, police said, noting the child was traveling out of state with family at the time.

During Friday’s investigation, another text began to circulate indicating Norwood High School was next, according to police, who said that text was spoofed to look like it came from the original unknown number, but it did not. Police “give no credence” to the second text, law enforcement said in a news release.

Uniformed and plainclothes officers were sent to the middle and high schools for additional security, according to police.

The student returned to Norwood and detectives obtained and executed a search warrant Sunday for the child’s home, seizing a cellphone and arresting the 12-year-old, who confessed in front of family, police said. There were no guns in the home and the student will not be in school on Monday, according to police.