Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for April 29, 2007 VIRGINIA TECH RIPPLE EFFECT

From the Southern Illinoisan...

Threat disrupts prom

BY CALEB HALE AND BECKY MALKOVICH, THE SOUTHERN

JACKSON COUNTY - Jackson County Sheriff's deputies arrested an 18-year-old man for allegedly threatening to "shoot people" at an area prom only hours before the event was scheduled to begin Saturday.

Shane S. Bramlett of Ava is in custody in Jackson County Jail. He was arrested by deputies at about 4:45 p.m. Saturday.

Bramlett is charged with making a terrorist threat, intimidation, violation of an order of protection and telephone harassment. All charges are connected to alleged threats Bramlett made about a shooting he would commit during Murphysboro High School prom, which took place in Carbondale Civic Center.

Deputies were first warned of the threat at 11 a.m., and a warrant for Bramlett's arrest was issued.

According to a press release from the Murphysboro Police Department - the lead agency in the matter - Bramlett allegedly made the threat by phone Friday. Officials spent the better part of Saturday afternoon searching for the suspect and considered him armed and dangerous.

It was unclear whether Bramlett is a student at Murphysboro High School.

Extra security was brought in to work with Carbondale police at the event. After Bramlett's arrest, officials with the Murphysboro police said they still planned for additional security.

The school never planned to shut down the prom, according to police.

Saturday's incident marked the second threat this month of mass violence against a school in the region.

Waltonville High School in Jefferson County was locked down for 90 minutes April 19 when officials learned a student allegedly made a hit list of people to kill. A school board member said the threat reportedly came when a female student turned down the suspect for a date to a dance.

Schools and universities across the country have been reacting seriously to threats of violence since the April 16 shooting at Virginia Tech University in which 33 students, including the gunmen, died.

Five buildings at Southern Illinois University Carbondale were evacuated Wednesday when a professor mistook a 60-pound bag of sand in Lawson Hall for a possible bomb. Campus safety officials determined within an hour there was no danger.