Latest news with #PatrickMerten
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Yahoo
Police seek charges against student who they say admitted to sending email threatening Germantown teachers
Police are seeking a charge accusing a 12-year-old student of making terroristic threats after they said the student admitted to sending an email threatening staff at Kennedy Middle School in Germantown. Germantown Police Chief Patrick Merten said in a June 11 news release that a referral for that charge has been submitted to Washington County Juvenile Intake. Their request came after police executed a search warrant June 6 at the student's Germantown home as part of their investigation into the threat, which was discovered June 2. Police seized multiple electronic devices during the search. In conducting a forensic analysis of their contents, detectives recovered data revealing a Google account used to send the threatening email. Police determined the device belonged to a 12-year-old boy, a sixth-grade student at Kennedy Middle School. The student admitted to creating and sending the message, which said "On June 2, 2025, we will show up to Kennedy Middle School with an AK-47 and kill all of the teachers. We will start with the east side of the school, then the west. - Anonymous," according to Merten's news release. The email was sent to a Kennedy Middle School attendance email account typically used to notify the school of student absences. A school secretary discovered the email the morning of June 2 and immediately contacted the Police Department's school resource officer, the news release said. More: How do Wisconsin school districts determine what's a 'credible threat'? Local schools weigh in More: School crisis communication is critical — but it's not as straightforward as you think. The student told police he sent the email because he was upset after a recent interaction with a teacher, but did not intend to act on the threat. The student's parents said he has no access to any firearms in the home. The parents have cooperated with police and the Germantown School District throughout the investigation, the release said. Merten acknowledged that some parents and community members were concerned about the lack of immediate information. "It's important to understand that when a threat of this nature is received, numerous steps must be taken behind the scenes to ensure the safety of students and staff. The school was placed in a 'hold' as a precaution while law enforcement worked to assess and manage the situation," Merten said in the release. Neither Germantown School District Superintendent Chris Reuter, nor Germantown School District marketing and communications manager Claire Podbielski, immediately responded to phone or email messages seeking comment. Contact Alec Johnson at (262) 875-9469 or Follow him on Twitter at@AlecJohnson12. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Germantown student could face charges connected to threatening email
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Germantown police investigating threat against Kennedy Middle School teachers
The Germantown Police Department is investigating a threat made toward Kennedy Middle School teachers. The Police Department learned of the threat the morning of June 2. The threat had been was emailed to the middle school over the weekend. While the email did not have much detail, it did threaten to harm teachers at the school, according to a news release from Germantown Police Chief Patrick Merten posted June 2 on the Germantown Police Department's Facebook page. Police responded, checking the area outside of the school and standing outside the school when students and staff arrived June 2. Additional police were present at the school throughout the school day. The department is actively investigating the source of the threat, the release said. Germantown Police were assisted by the Washington County Sheriff's Department, which provided a perimeter outside the school, Merten said in a June 3 email to a reporter that there will be additional police at all district schools the rest of the school year. Merten said the district has school resource officers in the schools every day and that patrol officers conduct periodic walk-throughs of the schools daily. The department plans to share any additional information on its Facebook page as that information becomes available, Merten said. Germantown School District superintendent Chris Reuter did not respond to a reporter's phone or email messages seeking comment. Contact Alec Johnson at (262) 875-9469 or Follow him on Twitter at@AlecJohnson12. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Germantown police investigating threat at Kennedy Middle School
