By ANDY SEVILLA
A Hays High School student accused of threatening to bring a gun to school told police he had no intention of acting on his alleged threat, authorities said Thursday.
James Wayne Archer, 17, was arrested and charged with making a terroristic threat, a third-degree felony, after reports surfaced that the suspect threatened violence to fellow students and employees of the district.
Hays County Sheriff’s detectives, after investigating the case through the night to identify the suspect and determine the validity of the threats, executed a search warrant at Archer’s Kyle home and arrested the suspect early Thursday morning after he confessed to making the threats.
Hays Sheriff’s Lieutenant Jeri Skrocki said Archer disclosed to investigators that he had made statements consistent with the allegations, but did not plan on acting on the threats.
Tim Savoy, Hays CISD spokesperson, warned school parents in a 2 a.m. email Thursday that a student reported overhearing another student say he might bring a gun to school.
“The school district and law enforcement take these reports seriously and have to investigate whether there is a credible threat,” Savoy said in his email. “Our hope is that this is just a rumor or misunderstanding, but our plan is to do whatever is necessary to ensure the safety of the campus.”
Savoy told the Hays Free Press that a student who overheard Archer’s alleged threat informed a parent, who works as a Hays CISD employee. Savoy said district officials were informed of the alleged threat at about 6 p.m. Wednesday.
“We take any type of threat seriously,” Savoy said. “We immediately started the process… to take care of the threat.”
Archer remained at the Hays County Jail as of Thursday afternoon and is being held on a $50,000 bond.
This gun threat comes on the heels of a BB gun shooting inside a Hays CISD elementary school bus on Oct. 20 that left two students and a bus driver shot.
A ten-year-old Science Hall Elementary student brought a pistol-size BB gun to school inside his backpack and pulled it out in a bus after school, according to law enforcement and school district officials.
The ten-year-old and an eight-year-old began playing with the air gun when it was discharged a couple of times striking one student in the ankle, another student in the foot and grazing the bus driver.
Due to the alleged shooter’s age, Hays County Sheriff’s officials did not pursue criminal charges in that case and district officials said disciplinary actions would be handed down in accordance with district policy.
