Man arrested in connection with threat on Bollinger County school

Bollinger County sheriff's deputies arrested Freddie Everett Johnson of Marble Hill, Missouri, on suspicion of making a terrorist threat toward an area school.

Officers on Friday picked up Johnson at a Cape Girardeau hospital, where he was receiving treatment.

About 1 p.m. Thursday, Johnson allegedly called the Bollinger County Library and said he wanted to give a warning his nephew was going to shoot up a school that evening, according to a probable-cause statement by chief deputy Darren Bullard.

Freddie Everett Johnson

The employee told Johnson he had reached the library, then provided him with the number for Woodland Schools, Bullard wrote. According to the library employee, the call lasted no more than two minutes, and the employee made a statement to the sheriff's office, according to the statement.

Sheriff's officers talked to the employee 20 minutes later. His story had not changed, and he had not received any more calls about an attack at the school, Bullard wrote.

"The witness is a very credible witness," Bullard said.

After communicating with school officials throughout the county to lock down schools, Bullard contacted AT&T, which gave officers information about numbers used to call the library that day, according to the statement.

Officers contacted Johnson, who said he had called the library asking about a book by a man whose nephew committed a school shooting, Bullard wrote. Bullard said Johnson does not have a nephew who attends a Bollinger County school, and the phrasing was a thinly veiled attempt to obscure his intentions.

Johnson has a daughter who attends Woodland Schools, however. The girl was picked up at Johnson's former wife's residence and brought back to school by the Woodland School resource officer at 10:15 a.m. Thursday for a truancy issue.

"There was an issue with truancy with his own children," Bullard said. "(The threat) was a retaliation on the truancy issue. That's my belief."

Johnson was contacted twice more by the sheriff's office, and he had agreed to meet with officers at 8:30 a.m. Friday but did not show up, according to the statement.

Bullard said sheriff's deputies have dealt with Johnson before, although never previously as a suspect, and he has a reputation for owning several weapons with high-capacity magazines in each room of his home. He also is known for carrying a minimum of three firearms on him at all times, Bullard wrote.

Bullard said Friday he believes Johnson was capable of carrying out the threat at a Bollinger County school.

"I feel it was substantiated," Bullard said of the threat.

bkleine@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3644

Pertinent address:

Marble Hill, Mo