Mayfield, Ky.–An 18-year-old has been arrested today in Graves County for issuing a school shooting threat.
Late Wednesday night (02-02-22), a tip from the FBI was called in concerning a school shooting threat that had been reported to them. The threat was posted from a fictitious Snapchat account from a location in Graves County. The threat stated, “Hi I’m Ashton Smith I’m going to shoot the school on Friday.”
A telephone conference with Graves County School officials, Sheriff Jon Hayden, and the FBI ensued at about 10:30PM last date.
Overnight, sheriff’s deputies conducted interviews with witnesses in Graves County and identified the possible suspect. At around 10AM today, sheriff’s detectives located the suspect at a residence off of Ky Hwy 1710 and transported him to the sheriff’s office. During interviews with the suspect, he did in fact acknowledge to making the Snapchat post and turned over the cellphone that was used. The investigation revealed that the name Ashton Smith was a fictitious made-up name.
The suspect stated that he didn’t have intentions of following through with the threat but thought that it would just be funny to make the threat. No specific school was ever mentioned.
Arrested: Sanderson, Jacob Allen 18 yoa
of Graves County, Ky
Charge: Terroristic Threatening 2nd Degree
The suspect was transported to the Graves County Restricted Custody Center and then transported and lodged at the Calloway County Jail.