By Sara Gentzler

The Olympian

A 13-year-old boy was arrested and booked into Lewis County Juvenile Detention Center Tuesday for making threats to “shoot up a school,” Centralia police say.

He also threatened to kill family members, according to a police activity log.

The boy made the verbal threats directly to another person, Sgt. Dave Clary told The Olympian. That person took the threat seriously and called law enforcement.

Police found him on the 900 block of Johnson Road and arrested him about 1 p.m. Tuesday. The boy did not have any weapons, Clary said.

“It’s important to note that the law regarding this is very specific,” said Clary. “It is not a defense if the threat is determined to have been a hoax. In this day and age, we take any threat of that kind very seriously, and we act upon those threats immediately.”

If a student hears a threat like this at school, Clary said, the student should report it to a school resource officer or a teacher if an officer isn’t available.

“Anyone who hears that kind of talk, we want to know about it and nip it in the bud right away,” Clary said. “And any person who’s considering making a comment like that needs to really understand the severity of the consequences for that.”