Parents of former Ritenour student accused of threatening school facing tampering charge
ST. LOUIS COUNTY — The parents of a former Ritenour School District student accused of threatening Husky Academy and taking a loaded gun to school grounds this week were charged Thursday night in connection with the incident.
Traci Thompson and Terry Thompson were charged Thursday with a count each of tampering with physical evidence in a felony prosecution.
The teen's mother and father are both felons, St. Ann police Capt. Blake Carrigan said. They are both in custody and being held on a $250,000 cash-only bail.
Carrigan said Terry Thompson and Traci Thompson were present when their son was arrested. The parents then went back to Terry Thompson's house on the 500 block of Shepley Drive and tried to clean up the scene and put ammunition from earlier that day in a bag.
Carrigan said Terry Thompson took the bag of ammunition to the home of Traci Thompson on the 7300 block of North Hanley Road, and he asked her to take the bag because he thought she wouldn't get in trouble for having it.
Police later found the bag with the ammunition and magazines at Traci Thompson's house on Thursday, Carrigan said.
The charges come two days after the teen posted a video on Instagram of him rapping and pointing a gun at Husky Academy and a school resource officer's vehicle, police said.
The Post-Dispatch previously reported the teen was charged in juvenile court with making a terrorist threat in the first degree, unlawful use of a weapon and resisting arrest. The suspect is currently at the juvenile detention center in St. Louis County, but he may be charged as an adult, St. Ann police Chief Aaron Jimenez said.
Jimenez said the suspect was armed with a Glock with a fully loaded chamber, in addition to one extended magazine that held at least 15 bullets.
A deputy police chief, George Ravens, found the suspect in his car in the Husky alternative school's parking lot, when the teen jumped out of his car and ran.
Ravens pursued the suspect, who tossed his gun as he ran. He was arrested around 2 p.m. Tuesday about a block away from the school.
Jimenez said it's unclear why the teen threatened the high school, or if he'd gotten into trouble with police before as he's a juvenile.
Officers are also investigating how the 16-year-old obtained his gun.
"There's a lot more to this and we're looking to charge more people," Jimenez said.
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