A 14-year-old boy is now in a juvenile detention facility after Eagle Pass police say he posted a threat on social media targeting Eagle Pass Junior High School. Officers say the post referenced a terrorist threat against the campus, and investigators moved quickly to track down the suspected author before releasing him into the custody of juvenile authorities.
According to WOAI, the investigation began after a concerned parent flagged the threatening post, which involved a current student at the school. As foxsanantonio.com reported, officers began investigating after receiving that report and worked to identify the person responsible while assessing any potential danger to students, faculty and staff.
How Investigators Zeroed In on a Suspect
Officers identified the 14-year-old as the suspected person behind the post, the same outlet's report notes, and he was taken into custody and transported to the Eagle Pass Police Department for further questioning. The Juvenile Probation Department was notified and responded to the police department, and after a coordinated investigation involving both agencies, the teenager was released to a juvenile detention facility. Police did not release any additional details about the specific threat.
Police said threats involving schools, students and staff are taken seriously, particularly social media posts depicting firearms or referencing violence, per the same account. The Eagle Pass Police Department also said, in a statement, that threatening behavior of this nature will not be tolerated, and authorities urged parents and guardians to talk with their kids about the seriousness of threats involving schools and firearms, whether made in person or online. The department encouraged residents to report suspicious or threatening behavior immediately, saying community awareness and early reporting can help prevent potential acts of violence.
Not an Isolated Incident in Eagle Pass
This is far from the first time an Eagle Pass school has faced this kind of alarm. Back in November 2022, Eagle Pass Independent School District received a social media threat of an alleged school shooting at Memorial Junior High, according to epbusinessjournal.com, which reported it was the third known social media threat made against an Eagle Pass ISD school within three weeks at the time. The ISD police department requested help from outside law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, to trace the source of that threat. Nearly two years later, the Eagle Pass Police Department issued a public warning to parents after another round of school threats circulated on social media, as reported by themavericktimesnews.com.
A Pattern Playing Out Across Texas
Eagle Pass isn't alone this fall. In Laredo, a 14-year-old girl was charged with a felony after police say she posted an online threat against the Laredo Independent School District that did not name a specific campus, prompting every LISD school to go into secure mode, according to kgns.tv. Officers who searched her home reportedly found a loaded 9-millimeter handgun. In Fort Worth, police placed Amon Carter-Riverside High School on secure status on September 4 while investigating a social media threat, and later said they had not located any active threat on campus, per the Star-Telegram. Investigators there determined a juvenile who was not on campus had posted the threat and took the suspect into custody at home.
Behind the Numbers: More Young Texans in the Justice System
These cases are unfolding against a broader statewide trend. Texas children ages 10 to 13 have been referred for prosecution after school incidents more than 47,000 times since 2014, with about 4,800 students in that age group referred during the 2024-25 academic year alone, according to the New York Times. That figure marks a third more referrals than a decade earlier, the paper reports, and most of those students were accused of minor offenses such as making threats, using cannabis vapes, or lashing out at classmates or teachers.
Texas law also requires school districts to build structure around these situations before they escalate. Under Texas Education Code §37.115, school boards must establish a threat-assessment and safe-and-supportive-school program team for each campus, according to the Texas Education Agency. The Texas School Safety Center describes behavioral threat assessment as a proactive, evidence-based approach, noting that a 2019 U.S. Secret Service review of 41 school violence incidents between 2008 and 2017 found many attacks could have been prevented.
