The Houston Press explores the case of Justin Carter, an 18-year-old Texan who faces prison time after he wrote on Facebook, “I think I’ma SHOOT UP A KINDERGARTEN [sic].” Carter said that comment and others that followed were sarcastic. But someone reported his threat as real to police, and authorities took it very seriously, in part because it came two months after the Sandy Hook school massacre in Connecticut.
The paper says Carter’s comment was “part of a duel between dorks.” But he has been charged with making terrorist threats and could face a prison sentence of 10 years or more. He has been jailed on $500,000 bond for a year in Comal County, Texas. Prosecutors, who did not comment in the story, are pursuing the case aggressively, even though Carter has no record of violence and a search of his home turned up no guns.