BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) - Bail was set at $250,000 for a Montana man who is charged with disposing of a gun used in a video that prompted a security alert at schools in Belgrade, a town about 11 miles northwest of Bozeman.
Gallatin County prosecutors asked Justice of the Peace Rick West to consider the current political climate around school shootings when setting bail for David James Oster, ABC Fox Montana reported . Oster, 18, did not enter a plea to tampering with evidence. His public defender prevented him from making a statement.
Schools in Belgrade were put on shelter-in-place status on Tuesday afternoon after a video posted on social media showed four students, including one pointing a gun at the camera, as the names of students scrolled by on the screen.
Belgrade police said the four juveniles in the video face felony intimidation charges. Court dates have not been set.
Investigators determined the video was made during lunch break at a residence using Oster’s gun, but that he wasn’t there when it was filmed, court records said.
The students then returned to school, and Oster eventually acknowledged he disposed of the gun in a portable toilet near a construction site, investigators said. Police have recovered the weapon.
The video shows a boy pointing a gun and pulling the trigger at a rat emoji above a list of student’s names. Above the rat is a caption that says: “Should have kept yo mouth shut.”
Three girls in the video are seen kicking, punching and yelling racial slurs at the camera and saying they were going to beat up the named students, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported .
The threat also postponed middle school graduation in Belgrade from Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday morning.
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