Teen arrested for graffiti honoring Sandy Hook shooter at Bethesda school

A teenager has been arrested in connection with a graffiti message honoring a notorious school shooter sprayed on the grounds of a Bethesda-area elementary school over the weekend. Montgomery County police announced the arrest of a 16-year-old boy in connection with the vandalism on Tuesday. The graffiti was found sprayed on a fence at Bradley Hills Elementary School in Bethesda on Saturday, April 11. The message appeared to honor the man who carried out the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012, one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. Twenty-six people, including 20 young children, were shot and killed at Sandy Hook on Dec. 14, 2012. In a message to the school district sent over the weekend, MCPS Chief of Schools Dr. Peter Moran appeared to interpret the graffiti as a threat. "The use of the name of an individual responsible for such a heinous act, one that involved the loss of life of young school children, can only be interpreted as an act intended to intimidate and cause fear within the Bradley Hills School community, and the broader neighborhood and community, too," Moran said. According to Moran, the recent vandalism at Bradley Hills Elementary came just days after a storage shed was intentionally set on fire on school grounds. Moran said it's not yet clear if the two incidents are connected. Police said they would release more information about the case later Tuesday.