Police arrested a Vermont teenager on Thursday after they say he threatened to cause “mass casualties” at Fair Haven Union High School.
Jack Sawyer, 18, of Poultney, is currently held without bail and set to be arraigned Friday afternoon in Rutland Superior criminal court, police said.
He faces charges of attempted aggravated murder, attempted first-degree murder and attempted aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to police.
Starting Wednesday and continuing into Thursday, members of the Fair Haven Police Department and Vermont State Police detectives have been investigation a threat of a school shooting at Fair Haven Union High School, police said.
Over the course of the investigation police said they learned that Sawyer “communicated his desire to cause mass casualties” at the high school. Police said Sawyer was taken into custody Thursday. The investigation is continuing, according police.
According to Fair Haven Police, at about 5 p.m. Wednesday police and high school officials received information about a possible threat against the high school. Police said the high school was then placed on “restricted access” and all returning sports teams being bused back to the school were rerouted to another location.
Fair Haven Police said that after investigating they were able to “locate all parties mentioned in the information and were unable to substantiate any threat against the school.”
Police learned of the threat in Fair Haven just hours after the shooting that killed 17 people at a high school in Florida.
On Thursday, Fair Haven Police said investigators “developed new” information leading to Sawyer’s arrest.
Anyone who has had recent contact with Sawyer is asked to call Vermont State Police at 802-773-9101.