Petoskey High School Student Potentially Facing Felony Charges for Instagram Post

A photo was posted on Instagram Tuesday threatening to bring an assault rifle to a high school’s Gay Straight Alliance meeting.

Now, police say they’re seeking charges.    

The photo was posted on an anonymous Instagram account, petoskey_memes_v.4.

The Petoskey Department of Public Safety says they called in the Computer Crimes Lab in Traverse City who was able to track down the Petoskey High School student who made the post. 

9 & 10’s Blayke Roznowski has more details on how police and school are handling the threat.

"It was involving threats of bringing a fully loaded AR-15 to the school," Petoskey Department of Public Safety Director Matthew Breed said. "These things are not a joke."

The photo was posted on an anonymous Instagram account, referring to the Gay Straight Alliance at Petsokey High School.

Once students and parents started seeing it they called the OK2SAY Hotline, police and the school.

"When they saw something that made people feel unsafe they instantly communicated," Petoskey High School principal Dr. Mandy Stewart said.

That’s when the Petoskey Department of Public Safety says they contacted the MSP Computer Crimes Unit in Traverse City.

"With their detective and our detective they were able to track down an IP address, worked in conjunction with the school and were able to develop a suspect," Breed said.

Detectives talked to the student and found out there was nothing to back up the threat, but the consequence could be serious.

"This young man appears to have made a very poor choice and he now is potentially facing criminal charges because of that," Breed said. 

School was able to resume as normal the next day, but then there was an outpouring of support at a GSA meeting Thursday night. 

"Over 80 people came together," Dr. Stewart said. "We had to change locations because so many people came out to support and show people that this is a kind environment." 

We reached out to parents, but they were not available for comment.

The school says they are following their code of conduct for disciplinary action. 

The Petoskey Department of Public Safety encourages anyone who sees something like this to call the OK2SAY Hotline at (8-555-OK2SAY).