Shawn Lenz: Tennessee Teenager Arrested After School Shooting Threat Posted To Facebook

Shawn Lenz has been arrested in Tennessee and charged with terrorism after a post on his Facebook page said he would go on a shooting rampage like the one Friday in Connecticut.

The 19-year-old Lenz was arrested Sunday and taken to Maury County Jail on charges of terrorism, harassment and possession of drug paraphernalia, The Daily Herald reported. A police officials said his bond has been set at $757,500.

Police said they received several calls to 911 about a post to Shawn Lenz’s Facebook page that said he felt like “goin on a rampage, kinda like the school shooting were that one guy killed some teachers and a bunch of students,” Capt. Jimmy Tennyson said.

Some friends defended Shawn Lenz on Facebook, saying it was only a joke and that the teenager could never take a life. Others saw it as a cry for help.

“If someone took a stand against every Facebook post or comment like this one, think of how many horrific acts could be prevented,” one man wrote on the conversation thread. “Calling the police was the only right thing to do, regardless of whether or not it was a joke.”

Shawn Lenz’s arrest is one of many copycat incidents and frights in the wake of Friday’s school shooting in Connecticut. In nearby Ridgefield, police locked down schools because of a suspicious person near the Branchville train station, the Hartford Courant noted. And in Indiana, a man with 47 guns was arrested after making threats to his wife to shoot up a local school, mimicking the incident at Sandy Hook Elementary School in which 26 people were killed.