Texas Teen Girls in Custody Over School “Mass Casualty” Plot

Two teen girls were taken into custody by local officials in Texas Tuesday after the FBI became aware of a plot to use pipe bombs and guns in a “mass casualty” attack on Memorial High School in Harris County.

The threats were specific and deemed concerning enough that the FBI threat mitigation team moved quickly, ABC reports.

At around 2:45 p.m. (CST) the FBI called local law enforcement partners in Montgomery County, Harris County and Spring Branch Independent School District, who simultaneously worked to locate the girls.

By 3:15 p.m., just 30 minutes after the FBI call, both girls—one 16, the other 15—were located and in custody, law enforcement sources said.

The 16-year-old girl who is a student at Memorial High School is being held on a charge of making a terroristic threat, Baimbridge said.

The other student, a 15-year-old, is in custody in Montgomery County on an unrelated charge, according to a Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office statement.

No firearms, bombs or bomb making materials were immediately recovered in Harris County, though the investigation is ongoing in both Harris and Montgomery Counties.