One day after a high school shooting in Florida, Odessa Police charged an Odessa teen who reportedly threatened to shoot up his school while playing a video game.
Police were first called about a check welfare around 1 p.m. Thursday in the 8800 block of Lamar Avenue after being notified by Ubisoft, a game development company, about a man threatening to commit a shooting at a public school, an Odessa Police Department news release said.
The suspect, 17-year-old Nicholas Ramsey, reportedly said while playing Rainbow Six Siege “I guess I’ll go do mine now” and “ima shoot up my school now,” the release detailed.
Ramsey was questioned by detectives and reportedly told them he was making a bad joke in light of the shooting in Florida.
Police charged Ramsey Thursday with exhibition, use, or threat of exhibition, a class A misdemeanor.
Mike Adkins, spokesman for the Ector County Independent School District, confirmed Ramsey is a Permian High School student. Adkins said he could not speak to a specific student’s punishment but said in cases like this in the past that the district has sought to expel the student.
He added that ECISD has a good program for reporting threats and that students and adults often report perceived threats.
This arrest comes a day after a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., which caused the death of 17 people, 14 of whom were students.
LeSueur said that, despite the timing, they still would have investigated the threat, which they do each time they are notified of a possible threat.
“Even if this would have happened months ago, we’re still going to investigate, and we’re still going to take action regardless,” LeSueur said.
