Police ID Ex-Student Who Prompted South Austin School Lockdown

SOUTH AUSTIN, TX — Austin police on Friday identified the former Akins High School student who caused a panic after boarding a bus filled with children while threatening to blow up the school and shoot students.

Police accuse Ariel Ramirez Navarro, 17, as the student who prompted the school lockdown Thursday before he was captured. School district officials and police later confirmed the former student had a magazine, ammunition and smoke bombs in his backpack when he was detained, but no firearm was found.

The teen is said to have threatened to blow up the school and go on a shooting rampage — threats taking on a grim currency in the wake of a Florida high school shooting last week that left 17 dead. According to Travis County Jail records, Navarro was booked into the detention facility with a charge of making a terroristic threat, a third-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $10,000.

According to reports, Navarro was a former student at the high school before he stopped attending classes.

Related story: Ex-Student Making Threats Leads To South Austin School Lockdown

>>> Ariel Ramirez Navarro booking photo via Austin Police Department