By Forum Staff
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced on Friday that a 16-year-old Benjamin N. Cardozo High School student has been charged with multiple counts of criminal possession of a weapon, making a terroristic threat and other crimes for allegedly posting to social media on Sept. 18 that he would “shoot the school up.”
The defendant, of Springfield Gardens, was arraigned on Friday on a complaint charging him with two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, making a terroristic threat, criminal possession of a weapon on school grounds, criminal possession of a firearm and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree.
According to the charges, on Sept. 18, Meta, the parent company of Instagram, notified the Federal Bureau of Investigation that a user posted to the platform at approximately 10:17 a.m. saying “TS GMT BOUTTA SHOOT THE SCHOOL UP.” (TS GMT is internet shorthand for True Story Got Me Tight.)
Courtesy of Instagram
Meta, the parent company of Instagram, notified the FBI that a user posted to the platform: “TS GMT BOUTTA SHOOT THE SCHOOL UP.”
Records reviewed by the FBI identified the last location of the IP Address associated with the Instagram account as the Bayside school. The Instagram post included a photo of what appeared to be classwork depicting a drawing of the outline of a human body overlaid with the text “TS GMT BOUTTA SHOOT THE SCHOOL UP.”
An NYPD database review identified the phone number connected to the IP address to be associated with the 16-year-old defendant. NYPD officers immediately responded to the school and observed the defendant inside a conference room with a backpack and a cellphone. An NYPD officer placed a call to the cell phone number associated with the Instagram account which then reflected an incoming call from the officer’s phone on the phone the 16-year-old had in his possession.
Subsequently, officers searched the defendants’ backpack and recovered a black Taurus GX4 9 mm pistol loaded with a magazine containing 11 9 mm rounds of ammunition and a magazine extender containing two 9 mm rounds of ammunition.
If convicted and granted youthful offender status, the student faces up to 1 1/3 to four years in prison.
