Former Walter Johnson High School student Luis Cabrera was arrested on October 18 after being reported to the school for posing on social media with guns by students a week before.
In the incriminating picture he posted on Snapchat, Cabrera can be seen with an assault rifle. The October 5 image was not the first time he had threatened the school. In February, approximately one week after the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Cabrera said that he wanted everyone at Walter Johnson to die.
The judge overseeing the case ordered that Cabrera be held without bond at an October 22 hearing, where he also approved the county’s request for an Extreme Risk Protection Order. This ERP Order was a court-issued civil order, and it allowed county police to confiscate Cabrera’s weapons and ammunition. This type of civil order is available under a Maryland law that became effective October 1, and can bar the person from purchasing weapons or ammunition in the future and allows the court to order an emergency mental evaluation under certain conditions.
MCPS spokesperson Derek Turner thanked the students that came forward when they discovered the disturbing posts. Following Cabrera’s arrest, Walter Johnson Principal, Jennifer Baker, sent a message to parents and students on October 20 to notify them of Walter Johnson’s active shooter training on November 14. “We’re going to do training on ‘lockdowns with options,’” Principal Baker says, noting that “it might be better to leave the building in some cases.”
Since learning about Cabrera’s threats, Walter Johnson has taken steps to protect students and staff. All doors into the school except for the main entrance are locked during school hours. Furthermore, Deputy Counterterrorism Coordinator for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, John Cohen, has been assisting administration with securing the school by imposing new security measures like stationing security guards by the main entrance. Cohen, who is also a parent of a WJ student, will be speaking at a parent meeting scheduled for November 19.
Even so, some students are still worried about their safety. Junior Katie Hobgood says she doesn’t feel as safe as she used to, and thinks that the US still needs to implement background checks for gun purchases on a federal level.
But now that the community has access to the resources the county and Walter Johnson are putting out, their sense of security can be restored.
Article by MoCo Student staff writer Shannon Engel from Walter Johnson High School