Police arrested a teenager Wednesday accused of writing Sandy Hook shooting-related graffiti and setting a fire on property at the Bradley Hills Elementary School in Bethesda.
The Montgomery County Police Department did not name the 16-year-old boy, a Walt Whitman High School student.
He now faces charges of threats of mass violence, first-degree malicious burning, two counts of second-degree arson, malicious destruction of property and altering physical evidence, police said.
The extra police patrols launched this week on the Bradley Hills campus after the graffiti was found will continue, but police said that “there is no ongoing threat to the school or the public related to this case.”
Police said they identified the suspect on Sunday, and then obtained a search warrant for his electronic devices. Another search warrant was also executed at the suspect’s home after his arrest.
Officers removed boxes and items, including spray paint, from the suspect’s home, according to WJLA-TV.
Graffiti found at the elementary school Saturday referenced Adam Lanza, who shot to death 20 children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on Dec. 14, 2012.
Lanza also killed his mother prior to the school shooting, and killed himself at the end of his rampage.
A storage shed was also found burned on the Bradley Hills school property about a week before the graffiti was found. Authorities were not initially certain whether the two incidents were connected, though the 16-year-old suspect is now being accused of both crimes.
Bradley Hills Elementary School is part of the cluster for Walt Whitman High School, also located in Bethesda. Police did not say whether the suspect was a former Bradley Hills student or whether he attended another elementary school in the Walt Whitman cluster.
The Department of Juvenile Services will handle the disposition of the case, police said.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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