Photos posted on Snapchat by Kyle Hendrickson outside of Portsmouth High School where he is brandishing a gun. Images and booking photo provided by the Office of the U.S. Attorney for New Hampshire.
Equipped with “the means to do it,” Kyle Hendrickson of Maine, 26, threatened to “shoot up” a high school — and now he has been sentenced to just over three years in prison.
In addition to a 37 month sentence, Hendrickson was also sentenced to three years of supervised release, according to a statement from the U.S. Justice Department.
“The danger posed by Kyle Hendrickson in this case was very real. He not only threatened to commit a mass shooting at Portsmouth High School, but he had the means to do it, illustrated by the AR-15 rifle, shotgun, and body armor that we recovered inside his vehicle,” said Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Boston Division, on Tuesday.
“Today’s sentencing sends a clear message — regardless of motivation, when someone is intent on conduct that may lead to violence and breaks federal law, the FBI and our law enforcement partners will move swiftly to bring them to justice,” Cohen added. “This type of behavior puts our entire community in danger, and simply put, we will not let it go unaddressed.”
The Berwick, Maine, man pleaded guilty in December to one count of issuing interstate threatening communications and possessing a firearm in a school zone. The Portsmouth Herald reported that Hendrickson said at his sentencing that he never intended to carry out the shooting. The 26-year-old expressed remorse in court Tuesday and reiterated that it was “never my intent to hurt anyone.”
FBI investigators said evidence showed Hendrickson posted a Snapchat video last April where he appeared to be brandishing a handgun while parked outside of the high school. The gun was a Smith & Wesson SD40 VE and the video also appeared to show him pointing it at a passenger next to him while parked in front of the school.
“Imma shoot up the school,” the text over the Snapchat video read.
Surveillance footage from the high school was later used to identify both Hendrickson and his vehicle and match it to the Snapchat post.
Prosecutors said that when Hendrickson was finally arrested, he told police he got rid of the gun from the video by dumping it behind a hotel.
Ultimately, authorities said they “later recovered an AR-15 rifle, a shotgun, camouflage body armor, a handgun holster, a red-dot sight, and numerous rounds of ammunition from Hendrickson’s vehicle.”
“The handgun that Hendrickson used in the SnapChat video was also recovered near a motel where Hendrickson had stayed in Maine on the night of April 12, 2023,” the Justice Department said.
The Portsmouth Herald reported that before sentencing, presiding U.S. District Judge Samantha Elliot was unpersuaded by requests for leniency. Hendrickson’s attorney told the court that the video was “nothing but a joke,” although it was “a terrible one,” he said.
The epidemic of school shootings in America is no laughing matter, the judge explained. And Hendrickson was a “grown man, not a kid,” she said.
“You were significantly older than the potential victims. It’s not really a joke if everyone is terrified,” the judge remarked from the bench.
Hendrickson’s threatening Snapchat post was flagged to the FBI by the social media platform and the FBI then notified local police. This prompted a school closure for a day while Hendrickson was being tracked down.
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