14 DAY TRIAL // While playing Activision's Call of Duty 4 on Xbox Live, a student threatened to shoot up his school. He was immediately arrested by the local police forces with the help of Microsoft. According to the student, he was only joking and had no intention to really do what he said, but... what a bad joke if that's the case!
Allieu Shaw is the 19-year-old student from Frostburg State University who made the online threat. He was playing the latest CoD game when he started to say how he's going to "shoot up the school" and even how "he was going to do it", the court records say. Now, the charges against Shaw are on file and the trial date will be soon decided. Shaw faces a maximum penalty of one year jail time and/or a fine of up to $5,000.
He was tracked down by the local police forces with the help of Microsoft, who tracked the Internet provider address to Shaw and his room at Annapolis Hall. After he was taken into custody, he repeatedly stated that he was only joking and had no intention of following through his threats. It also seems that the police forces executed a search warrant at Shaw's room but no weapons or other evidence were found.
However, even if he wasn't serious about the shooting, the life in the calm Mountain City was shattered by the threat of violence acts and major police forces were deployed to ensure that the situation is under control - 40 police officers were patrolling the campus.
Everything seems fine now and probably Shaw has learned the lesson - don't ever think about doing such crazy things and don't even try to say such crazy things, even if you are joking. The police is ready and will show up as soon as threats are heard. Not to mention the poor scared people who will probably have a horrible day, even if it's just a joke. A bad, bad joke.