HOUSTON – The Spring Branch ISD Police Chief is sharing more information after two teenage girls were arrested in a plot to harm students at Memorial High School using guns and pipe bombs.
Speaking to KPRC 2’s Rilwan Balogun, Chief Larry Baimbridge says the threat from the teenagers was “as real as you can get.”
“I don’t say this with any hyperbole, but I do believe this is something that would have been carried out had they had the opportunity,” Baimbridge said.
The 15 and 16-year-old girls were taken into custody on Wednesday in a joint operation between the FBI, Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, and the Spring Branch ISD Police Department. Baimbridge says they were able to make arrests in just 30 minutes after being made aware of the threat.
Baimbridge says the threat originated on social media and information was obtained by the FBI through their sources. He describes the call he got from the FBI when they informed him of the threat.
“When I got the call from one of the agents, I knew right away by the tone of his voice that this was serious, that we need to take immediate action,” Baimbridge said.
Baimbridge said the threats were very specific and detailed what the teenagers wanted to do.
“These were much more than just general threats of shooting a school or something like that, these were very specific tactics that they were going to use, some of which I was quite surprised at the detail and some of the knowledge that they had of police tactics,” he said.
One of the teenagers, a 16-year-old girl, zoned for Memorial High School, was attending an alternative school in the district for students who fall behind. The other 15-year-old girl was from Willis High School and was taken into custody by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office. Baimbridge says they did not receive any indication that there was any threat to any other schools.
“There was no discussion of any other school in Montgomery County or anything like that. Like I said, it was very specific in the layout and so forth of Memorial High School,” Baimbridge said.
Baimbridge said he was able to talk to one of the teenagers after they were taken into custody.
“I was a little surprised at, just how the lack of any type of emotion, although she did show some, but there was a lack of it for quite some time, which was kind of surprising,” he said.
Both teens are in custody, one in Harris County and one in Montgomery County. They are both charged with terroristic threat.
