Two teenage boys who used social media to threaten a Fairfax County middle school were trying to impress a girl, Fairfax County police say.
Earlier this month, someone told police about an online post that threatened a possible shooting at Walt Whitman Middle School in the Alexandria section of the county.
Police say the teens, ages 14 and 15, turned themselves in and have been charged with one count of threats to commit serious bodily harm to persons on school property.
Investigators says the boys did not have the means to carry out an attack and were trying to impress a girl.
Since Feb. 15, the day after the deadly shooting at a Florida high school, officers in Fairfax County have investigated 24 school-related threats, the police department said Wednesday.
The police department is encouraging parents to talk to their children about school shootings and the seriousness of making threats.
"It is important that everyone understands there is nothing funny about any reference to violence in or around our schools, 'joke' or not," the police department said in a press release.
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The boys were released to their parents after a detention hearing and have been placed under electronic monitoring.
