Teen pleads guilty to racist threat that closed schools

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – A Virginia teenager has pleaded guilty to posting a racist threat online that shut down Charlottesville City Schools for two days last week.

News outlets report the 17-year-old boy was convicted Wednesday and is set to be sentenced April 24. Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Samantha Markley says the teen told authorities he was bored and joking when he made the school shooting and ethnic cleansing threat targeting a Charlottesville school.

The threat was posted on an online forum known for white supremacy and later deleted. Markley says the threat’s content led authorities to believe the danger was imminent. She says responding authorities found no evidence he planned to carry out the threat or associated with white supremacist groups.

The city was the site of a deadly white nationalist rally in 2017.

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Information from: The Daily Progress, http://www.dailyprogress.com