Fort Leavenworth man, 18, appears in court after arrest in school shooting threat
An 18-year-old Fort Leavenworth man made his first appearance in Leavenworth County court Wednesday after being accused of posting online threats Monday night toward Leavenworth High School.
Authorities say Kaden Ray Bentley, 18, wrote a post on social media threatening to carry out a school shooting at Leavenworth High School. He was charged with aggravated criminal threat, a felony, on Tuesday and arrested around 9 a.m. Wednesday.
Bentley is not a student at Leavenworth High School, according to Leavenworth USD 453 Superintendent Dr. Kellen J. Adams. After the threat was posted, Adams sent a letter to school district families, which included a note on Bentley not being a student.
The Leavenworth school district also handled several other social media threats Wednesday, including a possible threat against Warren Middle School. Some threatening language was disseminated through the apps Snapchat and TikTok, though no Leavenworth students have been detained, according to a second letter from Adams on Wednesday.
At a 1 p.m. bond hearing Wednesday, Bentley’s bond was set at $25,000. His next court appearance is scheduled for 9 a.m. Oct. 2.
Bentley is one of at least three teenagers charged in connection with threats made to schools in the Kansas City area over the past several days. One juvenile, a student at Blue Springs High School, was arrested on Sept. 8 after posting a Snapchat message threatening violence against several classmates.
Another juvenile was arrested in connection with a Sept. 9 TikTok that laid out a detailed threat against East Trails Middle School in the Lee’s Summit R7 School District. He has since been charged with making a first-degree terrorist threat.
At least 10 known threats have been made against Kansas City-area schools in general in the last several weeks.
Reporting by The Star’s Noelle Alviz-Gransee was used in this article.
This story was originally published September 18, 2024 at 4:48 PM.
