OUR VIEW: Threats are no joking matter

It’s shocking and disturbing to consider a high school so close to home could have been marked in history next to the Columbine High School attack.

While the investigation is still underway, Roy City Police officers reported to several news sources Jan. 26 that two Roy High School students were planning to bomb their school. These students, one 16-year-old male and one 18-year-old male, were familiar with making bombs and are believed to have plotted the bombing in great detail, such as covering school cameras and stealing an Ogden Airport plane to escape.

All of this was foiled, though, due to the decision of one female high school student, who received a suspicious text message from one of the suspects.

The suspect asked if she would stay home from school that Friday if he told her to. Somehow, this student knew there could be danger. We applaud her for having the courage to tell police and take the troubling text messages seriously. Many may have let the suggestive comments roll off their backs, but, in this case, we think we can speak for everyone in saying we are glad these text messages landed in the hands of a responsible and intelligent teen.

We, like many of you, have had instances in our lives when we know things may have played out differently had someone gone to officials when a peer made alarming comments. We can especially relate to this concept when it comes to suicide. There have been a handful of people we’ve known, collectively, that have taken their lives, but not without crying out for help first.

If there is anyone in your life suggesting harm to themselves or death to any other human being, never look the other way. Such phrases end in tragedy.

Even if you know the person fairly well and think “they would never go through with it,” stop right there. He or she may not go through with it, but in the off chance he or she does, that’s a heavy weight to carry with you for the rest of your life, knowing you could have been the hinge that altered the path of that person’s life.

We have an acquaintance who was a lab partner of the 16-year-old suspected of scheming the Roy High School bomb plot. Our source said he wasn’t an unusual kid, and though he was lazy in school, it’s clear he was intelligent. The source said the same thing about the 18-year-old, whom he spoke with a few times during his high school career.

Trouble lies in unexpected places, and, often, when someone discloses information about his or her desire to kill or cause injury, it is a call for help in a difficult time. You may change these individuals’ entire lives by making one phone call.