Waukee, Ia (KCCI) – School administrators in a central Iowa school district notified its students and families of an alleged threat made against the school and a man is in custody.
Television station KCCI reports that the threat was received by email on Sunday, March 8, 2020. It immediately contacted local law enforcement, which led to an arrest after an investigation.
19-year-old Isaac Holtz is charged with making a threat of terrorism. He made an initial appearance in Dallas County District Court on Monday.
“At this time law enforcement does not believe there is an additional threat to the safety and security of our staff or students,” the school district said, in a statement obtained by KCCI. “We understand this message does not provide a lot of information, but this is an open investigation and we will share more information if warranted. At this time all school and extracurricular activities will be held as planned.”
Court filings indicate that Holtz sent an email to all of the staff at Waukee High School and two of its students. It included portions where he allegedly threatened “to come to school with a gun and shoot all the students.” The email also included other specifics regarding acts against students during the fourth block, according to KCCI.
Holtz claimed that the email was misinterpreted and he was intending to show threats that were being made against him. He claimed they were copied and pasted from another source.
Officials at Waukee High School believed the email threat was from Holtz due to prior threats he had made earlier in the school year. Holtz also allegedly “left a four-minute rambling phone call.”
The criminal complaint said Holtz admitted to police that he had sent out the emails when he was arrested.
Holtz is being held at the Dallas County Jail.
