Police arrest man for alleged Facebook threat to shoot up Butler school

Police arrest man for alleged Facebook threat to shoot up Butler school
Updated: February 17, 2018 - 1:01 AM

The FBI and South Fayette Township police on Friday arrested a former student who allegedly threatened on Facebook that he was going to shoot up Butler High School.

Channel 11 has learned Bryan Flecken, 28, of South Fayette Township is in custody. Flecken is a 2008 graduate of Butler High School.

Police say in a Facebook conversation with other people about Wednesday's mass shooting at a Florida high school, Flecken said, "Gonna shoot up: butler junior high school, intermediate high school, or senior high?"

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Police found it while they were investigating another conversation about gun control, in which Flecken allegedly said, "I'm gonna buy 34 rifles and shoot up my first place of employment.... how about next Wednesday."

He said he bet no investigators would even think of tracking him down for the message. Next thing he knew, they were at his door.

They say he admitted to making "less than colorful comments" on Facebook and showed them the comments, and that's when they saw the comments about Butler High School.

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A district email went out just after 5 p.m. to parents in Butler. School was out today for most of the district.

The email the district sent out is below:

"Late this afternoon, the Butler Area School District was notified by the South Fayette Township Police that a specific threat to the Butler Area School District was made online by a South Fayette resident who was a former student at Butler. We were also informed that the individual is in custody and is being charged with making terroristic threats. After an extensive search, the police determined he does not have access to weapons. While we don't know all of the details, we are grateful to all law enforcement for their quick actions."
 

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