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Teen accused of posting school threat on Facebook

By Brittney Johnson
By Brittney Johnson

ROWAN COUNTY, N.C. — The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office arrested a girl accused of posting a school threat on Facebook along with a photo that had several guns in it.

Deputies said Amber Beaver, 17, posted “school finna be lit” along with the photo on Saturday. Four guns can be seen in the photo: a small pistol, a shotgun, a bolt-action rifle and a semi-automatic rifle.

Several students and teachers had notified the East Rowan High School Resource Officer about the post.

Officials said Beaver dropped out of school last year, but had re-enrolled this year, officials said.

Investigators responded to Beaver’s residence and met with her father who told deputies he had not seen her in about a week, but she may be staying with her aunt in Spencer.

Deputies got a hold of Beaver on the phone and she told them the post was just a joke and she though the post was funny.

Investigators arrested Beaver in Spencer and charged communicating threats and making a false report of mass violence on an educational property.

She is being held at the Rowan County Detention Center under a $7,500 bond.

Cynthia Kelly  told Channel 9 what it was like watching authorities question her 17-year-old granddaughter about the Facebook post.

"She said she thought it was funny, and that's when the detective took her out the door," Kelly said.

Police went to her home in Spencer, looking for Beaver after her classmates saw the screengrab of a Snapchat post on her Facebook page.

In an arrest warrant, also wrote a follow up comment, saying, "All my friends are strapped."
 
"It's been too many kids killed in schools. Gunmen go and shoot them down, and that's no laughing matter, and the detectives told her that," her grandmother said.
 
Investigators said a reasonable person could have believed the threat.
 
Over the phone, her mother told Channel 9 she understands why other parents are concerned, and that while her daughter has been in trouble in the past, she wouldn't act violently.
 
"She would never hurt anyone. She just wasn't thinking properly at that moment," said Shawna Dickerson, Beaver's mother.
 
Authorities told Eyewitness News that Beaver did not have any guns, and she reposted the image from another source but was not forthcoming with where the photo originated.

Beaver had her first appearance in court Monday and remains in jail.

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