HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Across the Houston region this week alone, there’s been a student stabbed at a high school, a gun allegedly found on campus, and threats made against others.
The Spring Branch Independent School District said one of those threats was made by a high school senior who posted online that he would shoot up the school.
Spring Branch ISD Police Chief Larry Baimbridge Jr. told 13 Investigates the student admitted to making the post, saying it was a joke.
However, with what appears to be an increase in threats across the Houston area over the last month, Spring Branch ISD said it doesn’t think school discipline is enough in cases like Monday’s, so it pursues criminal charges.
“It’s not a joke. It’s no more of a joke than saying you have a bomb when you’re standing in line at TSA,” Baimbridge said. “Everyone has been well educated that you’re not going to make jokes or comments about shooting up a school and think that we’re all going to laugh it off like it’s no big deal because it’s a very big deal.”
In Harris County, police officers can’t directly charge an individual with a crime. Instead, officers must contact the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, which decides whether or not to file charges.
As of Thursday afternoon, no charges have been filed related to Monday’s threat at Spring Branch ISD.
Bainbridge said he’s frustrated the district’s police department is doing its due diligence in investigating school threats and claims the DA’s office doesn’t always file charges when it should.
“(The student) admitted that it was his Instagram account. When we called the DA, the DA said, ‘Well, that’s not enough. You need to get a grand jury subpoena for his Instagram account proving that it’s his,'” Baimbridge said. “That’s ludicrous. That’s not something you would need. He’s admitted to it. He’s admitted it’s his account, and so (they’re) just putting up all these hoops and hurdles for us to jump over and through when everything’s already right there.”
Baimbridge said the district has had at least three other cases related to on-campus crime in which charges either took days to finally file or weren’t filed at all by the DA’s office.
Spring Branch ISD Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Blaine said she became so frustrated with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office that she sent a letter formally expressing her concerns.
“In recent days, the Spring Branch ISD Police Department has contacted the District Attorney’s office regarding terroristic threats targeted at our schools. Your office has either just declined to accept charges or has put up so many roadblocks that appropriate legal action is not being taken. I must ask why,” Blaine said in a letter she sent to Harris County DA Kim Ogg on Monday. “Your office continues to be an impediment to these individuals being dealt with for their alleged criminal behavior. We expect those in your office to take these threats as seriously as we do and do their job. These students and their parents/guardians must be held accountable and prosecuted to the highest extent of the law.”
In a statement to 13 Investigates, the DA’s office said it has “an aggressive posture regarding all threats made towards our schools, teachers, and students.”
“We routinely prosecute charges from school districts all across the county,” the DA’s office said in its statement to 13 Investigates. “We have reached out to the Spring Branch superintendent and police chief about some contradictions in what they are reporting to our prosecutors and to your station. At this time, these cases should be considered under investigation, and we will continue to assist the school district in every way we can.”
Neither Spring Branch ISD nor the District Attorney’s Office provided 13 Investigates with documents related to Monday’s incidents. We requested a copy of all documents related to the incident from Spring Branch ISD.
With incidents across the region this week, Houston ISD held a press conference on Thursday to address how the district handles school safety.
HISD Police Chief Shamara Garner said the district investigates each threat thoroughly.
She said whether a threat is made in person or online, the district assumes they’re all legitimate until they can prove otherwise.
“Some threats could be because kids think they’re funny. Some could be a hoax. Some very well could be a cry for help. What’s important for students to know is when a threat is made and it invokes fear, that’s a crime,” Garner said. “There are ways to seek help that the district has in place to help someone if it is indeed a cry for help, but every time a threat is made, whether it’s thought of as a hoax or a joke, we take it seriously. It’s assigned to an investigator, and we will seek criminal prosecution.”
When 13 Investigates asked Garner if there are times when the DA’s office doesn’t accept charges against its students, she said that does happen but that overall the district has a good partnership with the DA’s office.
“For the most part, a behavioral threat assessment is conducted. The DA does use that information to determine whether or not charges will be accepted but at the end of the day, more times than not, there are administrative consequences in terms of suspensions,” Garner said. “We work collaboratively. We do our part in presenting it. All cases are not the same. Every child’s situation differs, so as long as we’re doing what we can and should, we’re doing all we can to keep students safe.”
13 Investigates spoke with police chiefs at two more Houston-area school districts who said it can be difficult to get the DA’s office to file charges.
Baimbridge said he’s worried about the message that sends students and parents.
“It sends a terrible message to all the students who know that the threat was made, and they see him either in school or they know he went to (Disciplinary Alternative Education Program) or what have you,” Baimbridge said. “But even for that student, there’s that idea that, ‘I got away with it.'”
