Central Catholic student detained, accused of sending threat to plane full of people as hoax

EL PASO, Texas — A student at Central Catholic was taken into custody in El Paso, Texas, facing charges after a field trip gone very wrong. This happened Friday as a group of students and chaperones from Central Catholic were returning home from a humanitarian trip to the border.

As their American Airlines flight was taxiing in El Paso, headed to Chicago, passengers on the plane were airdropped a message that read: “I have a bomb. Would like to share a photo.”

This forced the plane back to the gate, where the FBI West Texas Joint Terrorism Task Force got involved. A bomb squad search of the aircraft, passengers and luggage did not find any explosives and the threat was deemed not credible, the agency said.

There were 125 passengers and eight flight crew members on American Airlines Flight 2051.

The Texas Department of Public Safety said the juvenile admitted to sending the message as a hoax. He was placed in custody in El Paso in a juvenile facility and he will be prosecuted for felony false alarm or report.

11 News was told everyone else from the trip returned home Monday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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