$250,000 bail set in school threat case
An anonymous tip led authorities in Allegheny County to charge a former Butler Area School District student on Friday, after police say he posted online threats to “shoot up” the Butler School District.
Bryan P. Flecken, 28, of Bridgeville, allegedly told police he was joking after when he made the comments, but he is now behind bars in Allegheny County on $250,000 bail, facing a misdemeanor charge of terroristic threats.
Flecken was arraigned on Saturday by Magisterial District Judge Eileen Conroy, according to online docket records, and was committed to the Allegheny County Jail on the $250,000 bail.
The criminal complaint filed against Flecken states the investigation began around noon Friday, when Bridgeville police contacted the South Fayette Township authorities after receiving an anonymous private message via their Facebook page. That tip contained screenshots of a conversation taking place between several Facebook users that occurred on Thursday, in regards to the recent school shooting that happened the day before, where a 19-year-old gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
The affidavit of probable causes states that the conversation included comments about gun control, to which Flecken replied that “Nobody gives a (expletive). I'll prove it. I'm gonna buy 34 rifles and shoot up my first place of employment … how about next Wednesday … about 2:30. I bet (expletive) no (expletive) police or fbi even THINK of tracking me down. Nobody cares. Big brother is comatose.”
Bridgeville police contacted South Fayette police after it was learned that Flecken had made the comments from his apartment in that jurisdiction.
Police, along with FBI personnel, went to Flecken's home where he acknowledged he made some “less than colorful comments” on Facebook, the document states.
Read more about this story in Monday's Butler Eagle.
