Former student arrested for making threats

BETHESDA, Md. - A former student at Walt Whitman High School is now in custody for allegedly posting death threats on a website.

Montgomery County Public School officials say the students' parents withdrew him from school earlier this year, but would not say why.

The unidentified 17-year-old is accused of posting the question: "Who Would You Like to See Die?" on Peoplesdirt.com and mentioning eight students, one staff member and a school security guard.

The suspect was found after a computer search showed the posting came from Memphis, Tenn.

The Shelby County Sheriff's Office says the teen was arrested Wednesday and charged with commission of acts of terrorism, a felony. He remains in custody.

Whitman Principal Alan Goodwin says all the students named in the threat are upperclassmen and the connection between the students and the writer is unknown.

An email was sent out earlier this week notifying students and parents of the threat.

"The administrative team worked with calling down each student who was on the list to let them know that they were on the list and contacted their parents," Goodwin says. "Then we cooperated with police in any way we could and tried to keep everyone cool and composed."

Montgomery County Police do not believe the threats were likely to be carried out.

Detectives are searching other websites to see if the teen - who used the screenname "whitmanarson" - made additional threats.

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