Police arrest 13-year-old boy over bomb threat "joke"

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Arlington Police arrested a 13-year-old boy after they say he threatened to blow up his school, CBS Dallas reports.

Police say he told a classmate at Nichols Junior High School he had a bomb in his backpack and he was going to take it into a bathroom and blow up the school.

Police say he first made the threat to the student last Thursday.

But the other youngster didn't tell a teacher until the next day.

Lt. Christopher Cook of Arlington Police says, "The suspect tells the same student again I have a bomb and I'm going to blow up the school."

When police arrived, they say the boy immediately admitted he made both threats, and said he was just joking.

The incident made national headlines Thursday morning after a person claiming to be the boy's cousin, made a Facebook post that went viral, complaining the boy was arrested simply because he is a member of the Sikh faith.

The post said, "A bully in class thought it would be funny to accuse him of having a bomb, and so the principal without questioning, interrogation, or notification to his parents, called the police.."

It goes onto say, "It hurts my heart and boils my blood that there are people stupid enough out there not only accusing us, but our innocent children of being terrorists."

Lt. Cook says when they arrested the boy, he never told them he was bullied.

Authorities say the student who reported the threat was the one who was rattled.

"It really frightened this other young man to the point that the reportee went to the nurses station and felt like he was sick to his stomach. The officer disclosed in his offense report he was trembling he was so scared."

An Arlington ISD spokeswoman says the district tried to contact the boy's parents Friday after his arrest, but didn't have the correct phone number.

The spokeswoman says the boy's sister eventually came to the school and learned of his arrest.

The district says it scheduled a meeting with the boy's parents Tuesday, but they didn't show up.

We reached out to the boy's family on Facebook, but never heard back.

Lt. Cook says, "It's unfortunate someone would try to politicize or gain an emotional response from the community and that's what someone tried with this Facebook post, and it's just not accurate."

He says they've made three similar arrests recently at Bowie and Sam Houston High Schools.

Police want parents to teach their children that if they make threats like this, they will be arrested and face charges as well.

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