Teen pleads guilty to racist threats that closed Charlottesville schools

A 17-year-old has pleaded guilty to making a racist “ethnic cleansing” threat that closed Charlottesville City Schools last week, according to The Associated Press.

The teenage boy, whose name was not released, pleaded guilty Wednesday and is set to be sentenced April 24, according to the AP. The teen told police he was bored when he made the threats and was speaking in jest, Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Samantha Markley told the AP.

{mosads}The threats closed down Charlottesville schools last Thursday and Friday after police received a tip about the post, written on 4chan and 8chan, which encouraged white students to stay home from school.

The two websites are noted hubs for white supremacists and were banned in New Zealand earlier in March after they circulated video of the mass shooting that killed 50 worshippers at two Christchurch mosques.

Charlottesville police announced on Friday they had made the arrest in connection with the threat and said it contained “biased-based language targeting specific ethnic groups.”

The town was the site of a deadly white supremacist rally in August 2017. James A. Fields Jr., who killed a counterprotester and injured several more when he drove his car into a crowd at the rally, pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes charges Wednesday.