Police: Berwick student made up threats against him

A Berwick High School student has been accused of fabricating threats against him and others, which caused the school to go on lockdown earlier this month.

McKinley Myers, 17, of Bayou Vista, turned himself in at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Berwick Police Department on a warrant charging him criminal mischief and terrorizing, Police Chief James Richard said.

The arrest stems from an Oct. 2 investigation at Berwick High School where authorities learned that a student, Myers, had allegedly received threatening Snapchat messages on his phone while at school. The messages contained threats of possible injury to Myers and others at the school, Richard said.

“There was no specific threat of anybody other than him,” the chief said.

The messages didn’t name anyone else, but included threats of “doing harm to the school itself,” Richard said.

Investigators later discovered that Myers made up the alleged threats against him, and police issued a warrant for his arrest, Richard said.

At the time police responded to the alleged threats, authorities temporarily locked down the high school. Concerns over the incident caused parents to check their children out of school and also “large numbers” of parents to not bring their children to school the following day, Richard said.

Myers is the only suspect believed to be involved in fabricating the threats.

When police began investigating the alleged threats, authorities learned that Myers allegedly started receiving threats Oct. 1 on his phone at his home in Bayou Vista.

The threats that Myers fabricated were in no way connected to the incident where a Berwick football player knelt during the national anthem at a Sept. 29 game, Richard said.

Police haven’t determined a possible motive for why Myers may have made up the threats. Myers was released from jail on $2,500 bail.