Bryan Flecken

BRIDGEVILLE — A district judge on Monday ordered Bryan Flecken to stand trial on terroristic threat charges after he allegedly made threats against schools in the Butler district.

District Judge Maureen McGraw-Desmet held the charges for court at the end of a preliminary hearing in Bridgeville, Allegheny County, during which counsel for both sides argued over Flecken’s intent in making posts on Facebook.

Earlier this month, an anonymous tip led authorities to charge Flecken, a former Butler School District student, after Bridgeville police received an anonymous tip that contained screen shots of a conversation between several Facebook users. The group was discussing the school shooting that happened Feb. 14, when a 19-year-old gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

The affidavit of probable cause states 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,” the document states.

Flecken cooperated with the investigation, showing officers his phone, where police observed other comments from Flecken, including, the specific threat of “Gonna shoot up: Butler JHS, IHS, or Sr. High??”, the document states.

In the days following Flecken’s arrest, an injunction was filed by the district preventing him from coming within one mile of the school. Additionally, the district closed Campus Lane to through traffic between New Castle and Fairground Hill roads during school hours and added security.

On Monday, Allegheny County Assistant District Attorney Jeffery Tisak said the prosecution was adding a second misdemeanor terroristic threat charge to reflect that Flecken’s comments showed reckless disregard causing public inconvenience or terror. He said Flecken’s comments caused the lives of many in the community to be altered, including the school district. That meets the criteria for felony charges, Tisak said, though the state is not pursuing them.

“Through his statements he got the school to change their daily routine, affecting thousands of lives, from commuters to the students,” he said.

Defense attorney Giuseppe Rosselli argued that based on the conversation thread, there is no way police could determine what Flecken’s intent was. He added that Flecken’s post about the school district was a question to a previous poster, not a statement.

“He did not start this chain of conversation. ... He didn’t say ‘I’m going to shoot up Butler School District,” Rosselli said. “If we’re going to use the words as a basis for charges, is it fair that we use punctuation as well?”

Rosselli also questioned Sgt. John Leininger of the South Fayette Township Police Department, who testified based on his involvement as the arresting officer. Rosselli said there was no way for officers to determine the timeline for posting, and indicated Flecken could have been stating “I’m game” to any prior post.

Tisak, however, pointed to another poster who commented about shooting politicians instead of the school, saying it appeared Flecken was agreeing with that statement. Rosselli disagreed.

“Anything that Mr. Flecken responded to was in response to a statement made by somebody else which actually contained a threat, potentially,” he said.

Rosselli made his appeal to the court, saying that while Flecken was “exceptionally, exceptionally dumb” and “very cavalier” in posting the remarks, there was no indication that he had made a credible threat.

“If the reason we’re here initially is because we have serious concerns for the safety of our schools, I get that,” he said. “There’s no evidence that he has any ill will toward the school, that he wants to shoot up the school, that he ever said he would shoot up the school.”

He added that the closure of Campus Lane, while perhaps the proper response of a fearful school district, did not constitute a serious public inconvenience. He said the district was unaware of the comments before hearing from police after the arrest, which further showed there was no credible threat posed by Flecken.

“This is a young man who did not think clearly before he posted something on Facebook,” he said. “Facebook is a vile world of nonsense and things that should never be said in a public forum, including what Mr. Flecken said ... but it does not rise to a criminal offense.”

Tisak countered that Flecken’s comments, though possibly open for interpretation, were serious enough to cause concern in the community.

“Frankly, we can’t tell if he wanted to go after the school, but a reasonable school sure as heck would think that he did,” he said. “It is absolutely reckless disregard, especially in the climate we’re in right now. He jokes about it here. He says ‘hey, no one’s watching, who cares?’ Well, someone does care.”

McGraw-Desmet ordered the case to be held for court, offering no additional comment on the matter. A formal arraignment is set for April 12 in Pittsburgh. Flecken remains in jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.