Authorities have charged a 28-year-old Kalispell man with malicious intimidation, a felony, for allegedly making online threats of violence against schools.
On Monday afternoon, local law enforcement and agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested David Joseph Lenio, according to Kalispell Police Chief Roger Nasset.
The Kalispell Police Department received information at about 11 p.m. on Feb. 15 about “generic threats of violent” directed towards schools via social media.
Although the information posted did not mention specific schools, times, or locations, schools were notified about the threats as a safety precaution, Nasset said.
Lenio was then apprehended at a local ski resort at about 4:45 p.m. on Monday, and is being held at the Flathead County Detention Center.
In accordance with the threats, two more search warrants will be executed, though police are “very confident that these threats were the product of one individual, and that individual is in custody,” Nasset said.
Nasset said the arrest was the product of a concerted effort from the KPD, the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office, the Whitefish Police Department and the FBI.