Mayor critical of sheriff's response to perceived threat

The mayor of Vadnais Heights is among those critical of how the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office handled comments by a 13-year-old boy with autism that authorities said amounted to a school threat.

Mayor Bob Fletcher says the City Council thought there was a terrorist cell in the city "based on the hype created by the sheriff's department." Sheriff's officials, based on a call from a concerned parent, got a warrant to search the boy's home Friday and seized numerous guns and ammunition.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press says the boy's parents were arrested on possible misdemeanor charges of negligently storing a firearm. Sheriff Jack Serier said a "potential tragedy was averted."

The boy's grandfather, Mark Stowe, says his grandson said he would "shoot up" the school when he was talking with classmate, but had no intention of carrying it out.