Springfield teen accused of sending message: ‘I am the shooter’

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. (AP) – An Oregon high school student has been charged with disorderly conduct after police say he sent a Snapchat message to a girl at another high school that read: “I am the shooter!”

Lt. Scott McKee of the Springfield Police Department said the freshman boy described the message as a joke. But McKee said it wasn’t taken as a joke, and it created additional panic at a time when there were rumors of a school shooting at Springfield High School.

McKee said the message was sent to the girl’s cell phone shortly before noon Tuesday. The 15-year-old boy was arrested at home Wednesday and booked into a juvenile detention center.

The boy attends Thurston High, where 15-year-old Kip Kinkel killed two students and wounded 25 others in a 1998 shooting spree. Kinkel is serving a de facto life sentence.