19-year-old convicted of soliciting murder after he threatened students, NC cops say
A 19-year-old man accused of threatening students and staff at two area high schools in North Carolina is going to prison, according to the sheriff’s office.
Jacob Thomas Norris was sentenced to up to six years and 10 months behind bars on Friday after a jury found him guilty of felony solicitation to commit murder, the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
“At the time the threats were made, Norris was a student in the Randolph County School System,” the release states. “However, the Randolph County School System acted promptly to remove him from the student population.”
Norris was charged in March 2018 by a grand jury after the school resource officer at Wheatmore High School — where Norris was a student — got word of possible threats against other students, the sheriff’s office said in a news release at the time.
The threats were directed to students at Wheatmore and nearby Trinity High School, according to the sheriff’s office.
Norris was 17 when the the officer received the tip on Feb. 28, 2018, WFMY reported. He was “removed from school that day and placed in a secure facility.”
The teenager had a “violent plan” that included “paper writings, online searches and statements from those close to him,” according to WFMY.
He was placed in Randolph County Jail under a $350,000 secured bond, the sheriff’s office said at the time.
Norris was tried in Randolph Superior Court this week, according to Friday’s news release.
Judge William A. Wood sentenced him to between four years, 10 months to six years, 10 months in prison after a guilty verdict, the sheriff’s office said.
