GOODYEAR, Ariz. — A juvenile has been charged with making a terrorist threat against students of Estrella Mountain Elementary School in Goodyear, officials said.
The Maricopa County Attorney's Office said the alleged threat was made while the child was online with other juveniles, as well as through text messages.
The juvenile suspect is a former student of the elementary school, Goodyear police said. The child was taken into custody this week at their home and then booked into a juvenile detention facility.
Several other children are facing criminal charges for alleged threats made against schools across Arizona over the last few weeks.
The county attorney's office reported receiving 11 cases since the start of September involving school threats made by kids.
“What children and parents need to understand is that these threats are very serious, and we take them seriously,” County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said in a statement. “There’s much more to it than just ‘kids being kids.’"
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What is the Valley?:
“The Valley” is what locals call the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. It is considered the largest metropolitan area in the Southwest.
The Valley is made up of various major cities other than Phoenix, including:
- Mesa
- Chandler
- Scottsdale
- Tempe
- Glendale
- Surprise
- Peoria
- Gilbert
- El Mirage
- Avondale
- Litchfield Park
- Goodyear
- Buckeye
Whether a city is in the “East Valley” or “West Valley” depends on where it is in relation to Phoenix.
The cities of the Valley have a combined population of 4,845,832 people, according to the 2020 United States Census. This makes it the 11th largest metropolitan area in the country right behind the Boston and Atlanta areas.
How big is Maricopa County?
Maricopa County is the United States’ 4th largest county in terms of population with 4,485,414 people, according to the 2020 Census.
The county contains around 63% of Arizona’s population and is 9,224 square miles. That makes the county larger than seven U.S. states (Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey, Massachusetts and New Hampshire).
One of the largest park systems in the nation is also located in Maricopa County. The county has an estimated 120,000 acres of open space parks that includes hundreds of miles of trails, nature centers and campgrounds.
The county’s seat is located in Phoenix, which is also the state capital and the census-designated 5th most populous city in the United States.
The county was named after the Maricopa, or Piipaash, Native American Tribe.