Bullied Desert Hills student to return to class after being falsely accused of shooting threat

A student at Desert Hills Middle School who was emergency expelled for allegedly making shooting threats toward his school was falsely accused, according to the school's principal.

On December 3, 2019, Kennewick Police arrested a 13-year old student who had reportedly made the threats. The student was taken into custody at his home, and hasn't been in school since.

According to an email that went out to parents Wednesday, the student had been the victim of bullying at the school. Other students were informed about verbal exchanges that were made between the student and the classmates who were picking on him, and one student reported the third-hand information to an adult, who called police.

"The school investigation determined that the student in question made no threats and the police informed us that he had no access to weapons," Principal Steve Jones wrote in the email to parents. "We want to make you aware that the student will be returning to school sometime this week.  The hope and expectation is that everyone will treat him with kindness as the student strives to put this incident behind him."

In the letter, Jones says there will be no information released about any possible punishment for the students involved in the bullying.