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Elementary students in Indiana arrested after social media gun threats

Posted at 7:30 AM, Feb 19, 2018
and last updated 2018-02-19 10:51:05-05

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Five people, including two elementary school students, were arrested after police investigated online threats made against another student. 

The Bloomington Police Department began investigating after a Fairview Elementary School representative notified police about a threatening Instagram video on Feb. 17. The video showed two students making threats and showing an AK-47-type weapon. One of the boys in the video made threats toward a female student and her brother. He said the gun was real and the two people were going to get "lit up," police say.

In the investigation, police learned the threats were made after an argument about a dating relationship between the parties. 

Police then went to a house to locate the weapon in the video. At the house, a woman, Laquita S. Perry-Leverston, 33, went to the trunk of a car, where she retrieved the weapon and a pistol. Both were BB guns, police say. 

After a warrant was obtained, police began searching the house. One person in the house, a 17-year-old boy, told officers they weren't going to touch him, according to police. He began resisting and was arrested by officers. The 17-year-old was handcuffed and placed into a patrol vehicle, where he tried to kick out a window and threatened to kill an officer, police say.

Two adults, Paris R. Leverston Sr., 37, and Laquita, became upset when the 17-year-old was arrested. According to Bloomington police, "Attempts were made to explain to her the reason why, but both adults continued to be loud and disruptive." Both were arrested.

All weapons seized by police were BB guns, not actual guns.

The people arrested face the following charges:

  • Juvenile male, 11: Intimidation
  • Juvenile male, 12: Intimidation
  • Juvenile male, 17: Intimidation and resisting law enforcement (Had been on probation for armed robbery, burglary charges in 2016)
  • Paris R. Leverston, 37: Disorderly conduct
  • Laquita S. Perry-Leverston, 33: Disorderly conduct and resisting law enforcement