Expelled ex-student held in school threat

A Hilo man was charged Tuesday night with making a series of threats, including one that made reference to the mass shooting at Virginia Tech, to staff at Kamehameha Schools on Hawaii island.

Jeremy J. Costa, 18, of Hilo was charged with one count of first-degree terroristic threatening. He was being held at the Hilo police cellblock in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Police said Costa made the threats Monday night against security staff of Kamehameha Schools’ Keeau campus through an Internet social networking website. He threatened to go to the school and harm the security staff, referenced the Virginia Tech massacre in which five faculty and 27 students were killed, and urged readers of the message to have their cameras ready, police said. Costa was arrested about 7:45 a.m. Tuesday.

Kamehameha Schools spokesman Kekoa Paulsen said Costa was expelled in August and that it’s unclear why the former student allegedly made threatening statements on Facebook. Paulsen says Costa allegedly trespassed on campus Monday and shoved a security officer when he was asked to leave.