***The video above is from a previous report saying West Geauga Schools were closed Tuesday after a student was arrested***
CHESTER TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WJW) – The FOX 8 I-Team has learned an 18-year-old student has been charged with attempted aggravated murder in connection with taking a gun to school this week at West Geauga High School.
Charges were filed in Chardon Municipal Court Tuesday against Brandon Morrissette, of Lyndhurst.
The I-Team has learned the suspect developed a plan to shoot multiple students at the high school.
Geauga County Prosecutor Jim Flaiz declined to comment on the matter.
It is not known when Morrissette will appear in court to face the charges.
The teen is being represented by defense attorney Henry Hilow. Late Tuesday night, Hilow said he was just beginning to learn about the case.
“I’m looking at all the facts,” Hilow said.
The teen was arrested at the school Monday. Shortly after his arrest, students at the high school were dismissed for the rest of the day and police kept an elevated presence at all West Geauga Local Schools.
All schools in the West Geauga Local School District were closed Tuesday out of an “abundance of caution” following a rumored threat on social media.
According to Chester Township Police Chief Craig Young, the department is investigating a threat that targeted the high school.
“We continue to work with law enforcement to unravel details related to yesterday’s discovery by administrators and our school resource officer of a gun in West Geauga High School. I will be forever grateful to the student who found a bullet and reported his discovery to the SRO,” West Geauga Local Schools Superintendent Richard Markwardt said on Tuesday in a letter to parents and guardians. “I am also thankful for the swift actions of administrators and law enforcement who quickly tracked down and arrested a student with a gun in his possession.”