Ryan Lee, the 18-year-old Lewis and Clark student accused of making shooting threats against the school, has been arrested and booked into the Spokane County Jail for Felony Harassment and Communication with a Minor for Immoral Purposes.
Court documents released last week offered more details about a threat investigation at Lewis and Clark High School in late May.
Police say Lee needed to receive the necessary medical care before being arrested.
Court documents say Lee used an Instagram account to send a 15-year-old girl unwanted and sexually explicit messages and images starting on May 26 and continuing until May 29. The messages include threats to shoot up Lewis and Clark, including one message that says, "I'll shoot up the the school with u to go first," the documents said.
Documents say another person confronted Lee on Instagram about the threats and was met with hostility and more threats against the school.
Following the threats, police interviewed the 15-year-old girl who showed them the messages, and said she was fearful of going to school. Detectives obtained and submitted search warrants to Facebook and Comcast Cable in an attempt to track down the person behind the account on May 30. The IP address was registered to a house where Lee lived with his family, according to the documents.
That day, another detective was conducting surveillance on the home when he saw Lee and his mother leave. The detective conducted a traffic stop and told Lee and his mom to respond to the Major Crimes Unit to be interviewed in reference to the recent school threats. They agreed and Lee was interviewed by detectives.
Documents say that initially Lee denied having an Instagram account. He also denied sending any messages to anyone in reference to a shooting.
Later, more detectives interviewed Lee and read him his rights, which he said he understood and agreed to waive. Eventually Lee admitted to the detectives that he sent the violent and sexual messages to the 15-year-old girl and said he didn't send messages to anyone else.
Lee told the detectives, according to the documents, that he wasn't actually going to shoot anyone or go to Lewis and Clark to commit a school shooting. He said he didn't have any guns, or access to guns.
During the interview, he told detectives he sent the messages from his iPhone and a Microsoft tablet. Lee had the phone on him when he arrived for questioning, and it was seized for evidence, as was the tablet. Detectives obtained search warrants to examine those devices.
On May 30, Lee was taken to Sacred Heart Hospital and admitted under voluntary mental health evaluation.
On June 12, Spokane Police confirmed Lee was arrested and booked into jail.
(story & photo: KHQ.com)