BHS student jailed for making terrorist threats
By Staff
Staff Reports, Hartselle Enquirer
An 18-year old Brewer High School student is in the Morgan County Jail after officials said he threatened to go on a shooting spree at the school.
Justin Robert Strickland of 420 Charest Road in Somerville is being held on $25,000 bond on charges of making terrorist threats.
According to Sheriff Greg Bartlett, deputies received a call Nov. 12 reporting Strickland allegedly planned to get a firearm and take it to school on Monday to, according to officials, "shut the school down for a few weeks because he was going to shoot till he was out of bullets and if the police showed up he would shoot them, too".
The department's criminal investigations unit was notified and began looking for Strickland. They contacted his parents and then went to Strickland's place of work, only to be told he had left early due to an unknown hand injury.
Brewer High School had a football game that night and deputies stationed at the field were given the information to be on the lookout for Strickland, though there was never a specific threat related to the football game. According to the sheriff's department, there was a plan in place for the school if Strickland had not been found.
The search for Strickland continued through the night, and Investigator Kyle Wilson learned mid-morning the teenager would be near his home. He was later confronted by investigators and taken into custody without incident.