Edmonds-Woodway students arrested for racial threats about lynching, leaving 'dead bodies' police say

EDMONDS – Two students were expelled from Edmonds-Woodway High School for running an online chat group that made racially motivated threats and spelled out how it intended to lynch one specific black student, Edmonds police said on Tuesday.

Police said the suspects also threatened the entire student body, saying they were going to leave “dead bodies” all over the school.

“The statements made were shocking and appalling,” said Det. Sgt. Michael Richardson. "Threats of this nature cannot be tolerated in today’s society.”

The chat group began in August, but one student with access finally told the school about it on Dec. 7, police said.

The two students, who are 15 and 16, told police they made the threats, but that they were just trying to be funny and didn’t have any intention of following through, police said. They were booked into Denney Youth Center on malicious harassment charges.