STHS investigation continues as terrorism charge questioned

When a South Terrebonne High School senior was arrested last week on a charge of terrorizing, some parents, panicked by unfounded reports of threats, guns and a hitlist circulating on social media incorrectly presumed that he was the subject of those claims.

But examination of police reports, social media postings and interviews over the past week indicate that the student arrested was not the person whom some students claimed had issued threats, if any threats indeed were ever made.

Tate Michael Songe was booked on a felony charge of terrorism that carries a potential $15,000 fine and up to 15 years upon conviction.

Songe’s meme was a photo of another teen taken in class, who was wearing a black face mask with white skeleton-like teeth and a woolen beanie, on which Songe had superimposed the words “Don’t come to school tomorrow.” But the day it was posted was the same day when rumors of danger at school ran rampant. While Songe was not the person referenced in posts about threats, authorities facing angry calls and messages from frightened parents determined the meme was alarming enough to warrant the criminal charge and the youth’s expulsion from school.

The soft-spoken 17-year-old’s friends and family members maintain that the meme was a product of youthful folly, not intended to cause alarm or harm, and that Songe has been sacrificed on an altar of fear, sculpted by events with which he was not involved. The teen’s own Facebook page, friends say, testifies to a well-adjusted young man proud to post photos of his report cards with their A and B grades, his Nicholls State University acceptance letter, and memories from Homecoming.

“This is a kind-hearted, soft-hearted and sympathetic young man who would never have any reason to cause fear in anyone,” said Songe’s grandmother, Donna Pinell. “His focus has been on graduation, walking across that stage and continuing his educational career at Nicholls State University.”

Now all of that is in jeopardy. Tate Songe’s college fund, his grandmother said, will be used to hire an attorney.

A DELICATE LINE

Interviews with law enforcement officials, educators, students and parents, as well as experts in adolescent behavior, raise questions about the case, as well as how the local school system responds to perceived threats of violence. Parents say they need to know if a threat is uttered — even if not substantiated — and say they want a more thorough protocol for having their questions answered if a situation comes up. At the same time, authorities say they need to be trusted, and that if a real threat exists there are mechanisms in place that are adequate to keep children safe and to have parents notified.

The South Terrebonne events have occurred in a nationally fearful climate fueled by mass school shootings in other places. In those cases, questions remain about whether authorities under-reacted and missed clues that could have saved lives. On the other hand, experts said in interviews, over-reaction can be harmful as well.

School and law enforcement officials walk a fine line when acting on information concerning a possible threat, said Dr. Paul J. Frick, the Roy Crumpler Memorial Endowed Chair in Psychology at Louisiana State University, whose field of study is adolescent behavior and also related violence.

“You want to encourage people to alert law enforcement and administration to any concerns,” Frick said. “If you over-react people are going to be less likely to do that.”

Parents, students and educators, he suggests, may remember the last time the hammer fell too hard on a youngster after some less-than-critical accusation, and therefore could be reluctant to report their concerns or supply important information.

The response of STHS parents to messages they saw — largely shared by other parents whose children had written them and shared them with each other — showed no such reluctance. More than one insisted to law enforcement that they knew for a fact that a “hit list” existed. When asked if they had seen such a thing themselves, however, the parents said they had not.

Fear and confusion at South Terrebonne, by the best accounts available, began taking shape on Thursday, Jan. 31. That was when one of the first messages suggesting a problem at the school was sent on social media, not in the form of a photo, but in very precisely worded text, and not by or about Songe.

DISTURBING MESSAGE

Friday, Feb. 1, proved a busy one for Lt. Herb Fitch, a 29-year veteran of the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office, who has served as the school resource officer at South Terrebonne High for more than two years.

As soon as he got to the school that morning, Fitch was given a message by the school administration’s secretary that a parent had called stating “that a student had a list of students and there was to be a school shooting.”

Fitch made the call, according to the report he later filed.

“I phoned the parent who advised that she did not send her son to school because there was a post on Snapchat that there was to be a school shooting,” Fitch wrote.

The post she referred to describes an incident on the Thursday, or possibly before that. It was attributed to a student who is a member of the school’s renowned band.

“Alright so look the kid was telling kids in band to stop playing with him, when we was (not) even doing nothing,” the post reads. “And then he said watch y’all gonna get shot up and some (people) went report him and today they arrested him during second hour and caught him with a gun, a map and a list. The map showed where everyone was gonna be at a certain time. The list consisted of band kids and a few others but me and all of drumline/percussion was on the list. But here’s the thing. My name was at the top and I don’t know why.”

The name of the student who made the post is known to The Times but is being withheld because he is not known to be a target of police attention.

A student was mentioned in the post as the person making the threats, and Fitch began to make inquiries.

A SEARCH REVEALS NOTHING

The person described as a possible suspect, Fitch reported, was not the correct person.

According to law enforcement sources close to the case, that name was of a 15-year-old seen in the school office for a disciplinary matter having nothing to do with threats. He was questioned about an allegation that he had been disruptive and possibly cursed out a teacher. A name also thrown out was that of a student who had transferred from another school. Children said they had “heard” the boy was expelled from a private school for making threats and having a hit list. Checks by The Times with private school administrators indicated that this was not true.

A similar call came in from another parent and other calls were received as Fitch continued his investigation.

Three students personally told Fitch that a student they knew of had possessed a gun. Detectives, meanwhile, were sent to the school in order to more thoroughly investigate the burgeoning claims.

Fitch spoke with the school’s principal, Blaise Pellegrin, and advised him of the information.

The student that Fitch was told about was spotted on campus.

“I stood near him until the lunch bell rang,” Fitch said. “I then had (him) stay with me and escorted him into my office where he was spoken to.”

The youth, Fitch said, asked if he was being spoken to because of “the rumors.”

“I then asked him what rumor and (he) replied ‘the rumor that I have a weapon on me,’” Fitch wrote.

“Here, you can search my bag and me,” the teen said.

“(He) emptied his school bag and his pocket and was then pat-searched and nothing illegal was found and no weapon in his possession,” Fitch said. “He was sent back to class.”

By noontime the number of phone calls from concerned parents had snow-balled. A student who was questioned about a complaint that he had cursed out a teacher was seen in the school office. Some youngsters, according to student interviews conducted for this article, thought that student was the one accused of making threats. The youth Fitch interviewed, searched and returned to class was said, according to hallway gossip, to be the thwarted shooter.

NO WEAPON, NO THREATS

At the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office within Houma’s courthouse annex, Sheriff Jerry Larpenter and Chief Deputy Terry Daigre were among the officials receiving anxious phone calls from parents as well. Some had been told — erroneously — that the school was on lockdown. Others were told that an actual shooting had taken place. Altogether more than 70 students were removed from class for the day by parents who were not convinced they were safe.

Col. Daigre took the unusual step of issuing a public statement to address the rumors.

“As of this time, The Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office has not been provided with any evidence to show where anyone made any threats about the school,” Daigre wrote. “There haven’t been any acts of violence that occurred at the school. The rumors about someone being caught with a weapon at the school are also false … If it is established that someone made a threat of violence, the proper action will be taken.”

Col. Daigre also advised if the investigation reveals that someone purposely started a false rumor, in order to cause panic, “that individual could also face criminal charges.”

On one local social media group, where Daigre’s message had appeared, a parent posted that her child had seen a hit list. Another woman posted that her sister’s child had seen a gun. The Sheriff’s Office, the woman stated, was covering something up.

As recently as Monday, Col. Daigre said no student disclosed to investigators any first-hand knowledge of a list, a gun or anything else of an evidentiary nature that could support the wild claims being made on social media.

A MEME IS RECEIVED

At 12:02 p.m. on Feb. 1, Assistant Principal Maude Gauthreaux received a message from a parent, who sent a meme that she found distressing, especially in light of the imbroglio that had gripped her school. A meme is an image or piece of text — often a combination of both — that is copied and spread rapidly by internet users. The photo had been sent out on Snapchat, from a student’s private Snapchat account.

STHS meme

“The photo was that of (a student) sitting in class with a partial mask covering his mouth area only with the words written across the picture ‘DON’T COME TO SCHOOL TOMORROW.”

Fitch called for the student in the photo to come to his office and showed him the picture. The masked boy was the same student who had been questioned and searched earlier in the day. When the questioning and search occurred, that student was not wearing a mask.

The student said he had worn the mask in class earlier that day because he had been coughing a lot and throwing up.

“I told him he should not be wearing the mask in class,” said Fitch, who asked the student the identity of the person who had taken the picture.

That student identified the photographer as Tate Songe, whose classes were by that time done for the day.

Songe’s grandmother was notified by Assistant Principal Gauthreaux that the school resource officer wished to speak with him. Songe returned to school after his appointment, but was told, Fitch said, to return on Monday morning.

On Monday, Feb. 4th, Songe reported to the office, as requested, and was directed to Fitch.

The resource officer told him that he was investigating what had occurred at school on Friday, Fitch then, according to the report, read Songe his Miranda rights .

“Tate was very cooperative in this investigation,” Fitch wrote in his report. “(He) admitted to posting the picture and the writing on his private Snapchat. After the interview Tate was advised he was being arrested on the charge of terrorizing and transported … to be booked and jailed.”

Not deemed any sort of threat to the community nor a high flight risk, Songe’s bond was set at $1,000 by Judge Randy Bethancourt and posted by his grandmother. She said he was not aware of the drama that had occurred at the school on the Friday. Her belief is that the meme’s text was directed at the teen in the photo, and not to the school population at large.

CHALLENGING A CHARGE

Terrorizing, according to Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:30.1 “is the intentional communication of information that the commission of a crime of violence is imminent or in progress or that a circumstance dangerous to human life exists or is about to exist, with the intent of causing members of the general public to be in sustained fear for their safety; or causing evacuation of a building, a public structure, or a facility of transportation; or causing other serious disruption to the general public.”

A South Terrebonne parent who saw social media messages her daughter received about a gun and a hit list, later proven false, is among those with concerns about Songe’s arrest. She fears Tate Songe is being made to bear the weight of panic and confusion that began he did not cause.

“He didn’t threaten the school,” said the parent, Amy Lirette, of Montegut. “I don’t think what he posted was a threat to the school. it was made at a very bad time, when the kids were putting together all the what else was going on.”

PROTOCOL CRITICISED

In the days that followed the confusion at South Terrebonne, parents made posts on social media critical of the school response. Some — made by parents not aware of the initial threats that were investigated on the morning of Feb. 1 — expressed disdain for Tate Songe, incorrectly naming him as the subject who made the alleged direct threats to students.

They were also critical of the Sheriff’s Office and the school administration, claiming that with an investigation going on notifications should have been made, and more detailed information supplied to help them determine whether they should keep their children in school.

Superintendent Philip Martin said that protocols in place within the school system appropriately address threats. If a threat is substantiated, or if an act of violence occurs or is imminent, a school is locked down. A robo-call system notifies parents by telephone if an emergency exists.

The system, he said, is not designed to address rumors and is not intended to.

“They have to trust us that we want to make sure their children are safe and if something is truly wrong they will be the first to know,” Martin said.

One parent who picked up her child after hearing from a relative that something was wrong at the school said in an interview that even if the potential that what is communicated is mere rumor, parents should be told that by educators, with whatever details can be supplied, rather than flatly being told nothing is wrong.

Even a recording with such information that calls from anxious parents can be switched to she agreed with others, would be a help.

Some educators and experts have questioned whether the administration at the school should have looked more closely into how the meme shared by Songe might truly be considered a threat.

A STRATEGY CHANGE?

As detectives continue to unravel the web of claims and misinformation stemming from Feb. 1, they have come to a realization that a felony charge of terrorism — in the absence of specific information of a credible and provable threat — may not be the best tool for them to use.

Future situations like the one at STHS, they said, might better be handled by charging from a misdemeanor statute. La. RS 14:329.5 is titled “Interference with educational process.”

It states that no person shall at any school or university deny lawful freedom of movement to students, teachers or others.

The law also says staff nor students shall be impeded from their lawful pursuit of educational activities through intimidation or other means “or when force and violence are present or threatened.”

The potential has not yet been run by prosecutors.

Looking for better legal strategies, educational experts agree, may be a far better way of dealing such situations. But for now all options are open.

Educational experts and other advocate say options other than charging students with a serious felony — where an accusation does not involve a direct and credible threat of violence might be a better path to follow. Some say that involving law enforcement in marginal incidents at all is something that should be done when other options are exhausted.

Dr. Charlie Michel, a former Lafourche school administrator who is now an advocate for parents and children, has concerns about the use of a felony terrorism charge against a student unless necessary.

“A terrorism threat is the easiest thing you can use to get rid of a child,” Michel said. “If they really wanted to determine if there was something serious, there should have been a threat assessment done. What is the real possibility? Do they have access to weapons? If not a child should be brought to see the school psychologist. We are looking at a situation where someone is guilty until proven guilty.”

Informed of details involving the Songe case, Michel expressed grave concern.

“ If this child has not been a problem before and no threat assessment is done, an injustice has been done, not only to that child but to the community,” Michel said. “Administration and teachers should be advocates for that child. With no direct evidence of terroristic threats, they have robbed him of his senior year.”

Tate SongeCOURTESY