Teen arrested after alleged death threat against U-High classmate

An 18-year-old University High School student was arrested Friday afternoon for felony harassment after allegedly threatening to kill a classmate, the Spokane County Sheriff’s office said Friday afternoon.

The suspect, identified as Adam L.L. McCarty, was located and booked into the Spokane County Jail.

Through the investigation, it was learned McCarty had been involved in an altercation with a juvenile student and made similar threats on social media platforms, the sheriff’s office said.

“These threats were then forwarded and passed around, along with other individual interpretations, that McCarty would shoot the school up while others warned classmates not to go to school today because the school would be shot up,” the department said in a statement.

Investigators have not located a specific threat from McCarty indicating he intended to “shoot up the school” as had been previously reported.

However, they did gain evidence McCarty made specific threats to kill a 16-year-old classmate.

After announcing the school would open two hours late, Central Valley School District officials later canceled all classes at U-High as the investigation continued.

The Spokane Valley Police Department was notified of the threat Thursday night and detectives are investigating, said Chief Dave Ellis.

Families also were notified that classes would be delayed by two hours. However, as the investigation continued, the district opted to cancel classes.

Students and parents were to be updated as the investigation proceeded, a district spokesperson said.

All other schools in the district operated normally, the district said.