Grandville High School student denies making threats
GRANDVILLE, Mich. (WOOD) — A Grandville High School junior accused of writing threatening and racist messages at the school last week said he’s being falsely accused.
“I am 100% innocent,” the 16-year-old said.
Target 8 is not identifying the student, or his parents, because of his age. He’s already been suspended from school, and the district has recommended expulsion.
His parents reached out to Target 8 after the criminal charges were filed.
“We’ve got better kids than that,” his stepmother said. “This is very unfair. It is an injustice, and it is breaking my heart.”
Following an investigation by Grandville police, the Kent County Prosecutor’s Office charged him as a juvenile with making a false report of a threat of terrorism, a felony, and of making a threat, a misdemeanor.
Police investigate threats at schools across West Michigan
On Dec. 11, the district found graffiti on a toilet seat in a boy’s bathroom: “The shooting on 12-15-2023 was no one’s fault.”
In another bathroom, more graffiti: “If you see this (N-word) gonna die.”
The next day, the word ‘ON’ was found written on the wall of another boy’s bathroom.
It led to added security and a letter to parents that students would not be penalized if they missed school on the 15th.
“I can tell you this, it wasn’t him in the first place,” his father said. “I’ve raised my kids with morals, values and beliefs, and I know my son is autistic and is on the spectrum. This isn’t something that he would do.”
The father says his son is the oldest of his three children attending Grandville High School.
“Why would he make any type of threat like that when he’s got brothers and sisters going to that school?” he said.
The suspension letter, provided by the family, spells out the evidence: handwriting samples, witness statements and closed-circuit cameras that show he was the only student in all three bathrooms those days.
And, the letter says, he was the only student in the bathroom where the racial slur was written between the time a custodian unlocked it and when it was reported.
The teen said he uses the bathroom often to escape from crowds.
“I don’t like crowds and most of my classes are 30-people packed, desk-to-desk, so I just go to the bathroom, take time. I told them to look at the security cameras, every day, it’s like 11 to 12 times a day. Sometimes, I don’t go to the bathroom; I just sit in there,” he said.
He said he is not racist.
“I would never harm somebody like that,” he said. “I would never target someone of a certain race because that’s not me.”
A poster of “Famous African-Americans” hangs on a wall in his family’s living room.
His father said he was an equal opportunity advisor in the U.S. Army.
“I was in charge of helping individuals with discrimination, harassment for up to like 5,000 troops that I was working with, so I raised my children the same way, with the same values and beliefs. We’re not racist in this family; we never will be,” he said.
Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker declined to comment, saying the case was pending.
The parents said they’re awaiting a hearing on their son’s recommended expulsion.
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