10-year-old faces felony charges after alleged threat against Kerrville school

A 10-year-old student at Hal Peterson Middle School is facing third-degree felony charges after making terroristic threats against the school Sunday night.

The Kerrville Police Department said the child made social media posts threatening a school shooting at the middle school on Tuesday. School resource officers, who jointly serve Kerrville Independent School District and KPD, investigated to determine the origin of the threat, leading back to the sixth-grade student.

Police said they found no valid threat to Hal Peterson Middle School existed, as the 10 year old juvenile entirely fabricated these posts’ content. The juvenile was charged with Texas Penal Code 22.07 Terrorist Threat, a felony of the third degree.

In a statement, the police department said it is fully committed to ensuring the safety of every member of our community and will immediately and thoroughly investigate threats of school violence.

“The legal consequences for people who make threats, including juveniles, can be severe and permanent,” the department said in a press release. “We strongly urge parents to speak with their children about the seriousness of making threats, or posting information to social media that reference violence to our schools. Remind your children that school threats are a felony and will have serious consequences.”

This is at least the third threat of violence against schools during the 2024-2025 school year. Ingram Independent School District faced two threats, one leading to charges against a student.