On May 13, the Charles County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a suspicious post on social media. The post was a photo of a gun and ammunition along with a caption that indicated the person posting was going to shoot specific students at Milton Somers Middle School located at 300 Willow Lane in La Plata. Officers launched an immediate investigation and learned the identity of the suspect – a 13-year-old male who was also a former student at the school. Detectives, along with the initial responding officer, served a search warrant at the suspect’s residence and learned the gun that was shown on social media was at a friend’s house. Officers obtained a search warrant for that house and recovered a starter pistol along with 49 rounds of blank ammunition. The gun in this case looks and sounds like a real handgun but the ammunition is blank, meaning it is incapable of being fired. The suspect was charged as a juvenile on May 14 at 4:45 p.m. with making a threat of mass violence. PFC M. McMullen, Cpl. R. Snyder, and Detective C. Gregory are continuing the investigation.

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Charles County Crime Solvers offers rewards of up to $1,000 for information that leads to the arrest or indictment of a person responsible for a crime in Charles County. All individuals who provide tips through Crime Solvers will remain anonymous. Anyone with information about an unsolved crime or the location of a fugitive may contact Charles County Crime Solvers by calling 1-866-411-TIPS. Tips can also be submitted online at www.charlescountycrimesolvers.com or by using the P3Intel mobile app, which can be found in the Android Store and Apple store by searching P3tips. For more information about the P3 program, click on this link: www.p3intel.com. 

The Charles County Sheriff’s Office is a full-service law enforcement agency comprised of more than 600 police, corrections and civilian personnel responsible for protecting more than 150,000 residents. The CCSO was accredited by the Commission on the Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) in 2001 has been designated as a CALEA Gold Standard of Excellence agency since 2011. Established in 1658, the CCSO is one of the oldest law enforcement agencies in the United States. For more information, visit www.ccso.us.      

Media Contact:

Diane Richardson

Media Relations Office

(301) 609-6557