Grace Palo

WMAL.com

WASHINGTON — (WMAL) Prince George’s County Police have charged a 20-year-old man accused of using his Twitter account in order to threaten to bring explosives and guns to a Prince George’s County high school.

Alejandro Avelar, an alumnus of High Point High in Beltsville (the school that was threatened), now faces charges of threat of mass violence and other charges.

Prince George’s County Police said that after they investigated, they found that Avelar “does not have access to firearms or explosives” according to a statement they released.

This incident occurred as many schools across the country have to deal with increasing social media threats of violence at their facilities.

Police and school officials have to deal with how to respond to such threats in a way to protect students and staff while also not creating unneeded worry or panic. Some threats come online and others are made using computer-generated robo-calls. How to deal with them can vary by each situation.

In a statement, police in Prince George’s said they “take seriously all threats against targets” in the county and “will work aggressively to arrest whoever is responsible for sending those threats.”

The police also encouraged the public to report threats of violence they see on social media.

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(Photo: Prince George’s County Police Department)