Lake County boy in custody following social media threats

A Lake County boy is charged with felony intimidation after he allegedly made threats on social media about shooting people at a school in St. Ignatius, authorities said Thursday.

According to information from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, law enforcement officials were made aware of the alleged threats at about 2 p.m., Thursday. The threats reportedly stated that the boy, who was not identified by authorities, was going to go to the school with a gun with the intent to harm others.

“Within minutes of this initial report, the youth was located by deputies away from the school and detained,” the Sheriff’s Office report states.

The boy was arrested following a preliminary investigation. A search warrant for the boy’s home was being executed on Thursday.

The boy was in Lake County District Court on Thursday afternoon, and was potentially being transported to the youth detention facility in Missoula County, pending his court hearing.

The St. Ignatius school went into a soft lockdown, “just to be safe,” St. Ignatius Superintendent Jason Sargent said in a message to parents. He said the suspect was in custody before school ended.

“We released students as normal at the end of the day,” Sargent said. No one was on campus that posed any threat to the district.”

The school will be open for its regular schedule on Friday.