He has been charged on a count of Hoax (ARS 13-2925), a class 4 felony.
A Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office posse member, who aids Boulder Creek High School on security issues, obtained the intelligence which led to the arrest. At approximately 11:30 p.m. on May 18, 2014, a deputy in the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office received information from the posse member that began an investigation into this Twitter post: “For my senior prank I’m going to bring an AR15 to school and kill everyone.”
The investigation determined that the threat was posted by Goettl.
During the course of the investigation, other Twitter postings examined included one of which contained a yearbook photo and underneath Goettl’s photo read: “I bear witness that there is no god but God. I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.”
There was also information posted on a Facebook page connected to the subject that spoke to seniors starting a “Riot” on Monday due to some students not being able to walk for graduation due to getting into trouble for vandalizing the school.
The suspect was contacted at his father’s house in Anthem and interviewed by Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office detectives. Goettl admitted to posting the threat.
The posse member who contacted the Sheriff’s Office said his wife was tipped off to the postings concerning the student body of Boulder Creek High School and he immediately recognized the gravity of the messages.
“Our school patrol posse is in place to work towards ensuring the safety of students on campus and neutralizing threats to their lives,” said Sheriff Arpaio.
The arrest is the latest made involving threats made to students since Sheriff Arpaio launched the initiative in January 2013, a month after the horrific school shooting in Newtown, Ct, to have armed posse members patrol the schools. Two of those arrests included students carrying weapons, ready to hurt fellow students.