METHUEN, Mass. – A 12-year-old boy student has been arrested and charged for making an online threat to “shoot up” a local grade school and target an undisclosed employee, Methuen Police reported Monday.

The threat appeared on the Tenney Grammar School’s Instagram social media account but not under the boy’s name. School security officials tracked down his identity after Principal Mary Beth Donovan spotted the posting. 

Police said they searched the boy’s home with officers and a K-9 dog but found no weapons.

Police said the youth was booked on the charges, including a threat of murder, and released to the custody of his mother. He will face the charges in juvenile court.

Methuen is 28 miles north of Boston on the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border. The Tenney Grammar School houses 1,450 students from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade classes.

The Eagle-Tribune in North Andover, Mass., contributed details for this story.