October 24, 2019
By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –
An 18-year-old Erick man is in the Beckham County Detention Facility in Sayre after allegedly confessing to making a school threat on a social media account.
Alex Pledger was arrested about 9 am on Wednesday at the Erick school after allegedly telling police he was the person responsible.
According to Erick Police Chief Patrick Strange, Pledger issued the threat and then was, additionally, the person that reported it to others all in an attempt to gain a girl’s attention.
Strange says Erick Public Schools were briefly put on lock-down during the morning hours on Wednesday after law enforcement received information that a threat of a school shooting had been made on social media the night before.
The information had been first given to a Oklahoma Highway Patrolman from a parent concerned about a post made to SnapChat that read, “Attention everybody that goes to Erick School. I will be coming to shoot up your school. I’m a school shooter. Have a great day.”
The OHP trooper immediately alerted Chief Strange at approximately 7:40 am who arrived at the school within 3-5 minutes of the alert, as students were arriving to class. Administrators were notified and the decision was made to put the school on immediate, full lock-down.
Among the students at the school was 18-year-old Alex Pledger.
After an investigation by Erick PD, the OHP, Mangum Police and the Beckham County Sheriff’s Office, law enforcement came to suspect that Pledger was actually the author of the threatening social media post.
Authorities now believe that Pledger had created a fake SnapChat profile the previous night after breaking up with his girlfriend who lives in Mangum. The SnapChat profile added the ex-girlfriend and her sister and when the two young girls saw the threat, they contacted Pledger and advised him not to attend school the following day for fear of his safety.
The chief says Pledger then showed his parents the threat, who forwarded it to the trooper early Wednesday morning.
After Mangum Police talked to the young girls, local law enforcement felt they had reason to believe Pledger had created the profile and made the post. During questioning, he allegedly admitted to officers that he had made the profile and social media post, saying he did it to gain attention from his ex-girlfriend.
Pledger’s parents agreed to allow officers to inspect the premise where they observed two firearms owned by the parents that were locked in a safety container. Police also found three air soft guns, which give the appearance of firearm.
Strange says no one was ever placed in any jeopardy of being hurt.
Pledger is being held with the expectation of charge of making terroristic threats.
The EPS school lock-down was precautionary for student protection and Chief Strange encourages everyone to always report suspicious activity to local law enforcement.
Shortly after Pledger’s confession and being taken into custody, the lock-down was lifted.
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