An 18-year-old former student of a school in the Pearl River area of St. Tammany Parish has been taken into custody, accused of making online threats against his former school. The arrest of Webster Bourgeois comes after a concerned parent alerted authorities to disturbing social media posts. The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office, informed by the Pearl River Police Department, acted on the tip provided by the parent last Saturday, as reported by AN17.
Allegedly threatening the safety of the school, the specific content of the online threats remains undisclosed to the public. However, the incident has highlighted the responsiveness of local law enforcement to such threats. According to a statement obtained by WDSU, Bourgeois has been charged with one count of terrorizing and is currently being booked into the St. Tammany Parish Correctional Center. Arrested Webster Bourgeois, who is understood to be no longer attending the school, is the subject of this ongoing investigation.
St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Randy Smith issued a stern warning in the wake of the arrest, emphasizing the gravity with which his office treats such matters. "We have made it very clear that threats like this will be taken seriously," Sheriff Smith said, reinforcing the zero-tolerance stance on threats to school security, as noted by WWLTV.
"We will continue to work with our schools and investigate any and all threats made at our schools or to the students and faculty who attend them," Sheriff Smith told WWLTV, reaffirming the commitment to maintaining a safe environment for education. The arrest is part of a larger, concerted effort to prevent school violence, which has been a pressing concern for communities across the nation.
