Methuen Student Arrested for Threat 'Wanted to Get Out of School for the Day'

A Methuen High School student was arrested Thursday morning for making a bomb threat, an isolated incident that school officials and police say is not connected to the many threats made to schools in Tewskbury and across Massachusetts this week.

Police arrested a 15-year-old student who admitted to writing and leaving a threatening note in the boy’s restroom around 9 a.m. Thursday, said Methuen Superintendent Judith Scannell. The student’s reason was that he “just wanted to get out of school for the day,” Scannell said.

School officials quickly determined who was allegedly responsible, questioned the student, and called in police, who arrested and charged him with communication of a bomb threat, according to a police news release.

“The Methuen Police Department does NOT believe that today’s incident is at all connected to yesterday’s threat against Methuen High School or any of the other threats made against Massachusetts high schools over the past two weeks,” the release states. “Yesterday’s incident remains an open and ongoing investigation.”

Schools in Milford closed Thursday morning after school officials received bomb threats, and more than a dozen schools, including Tewskbury Public Schools, were in lockdown Wednesday because of bomb threats, Patch previously reported.

After Methuen students were alerted of the incident, they were “outraged,” at the offending student, Scannell said, adding she has noticed the emotional impact these recent threats have made on students.

“The kids were upset. They’re proud of this school and they just did not like that,” said Scannell. “It’s starting to impact and affect different people.”

[Photo courtesy of Methuen High School website]