Prosecutors from the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) are carrying out investigations for terrorism in the case regarding the threatening messages sent to schools and medical units across Romania on September 23 and 24. According to Romanian law, the threat of carrying out acts of terrorism is punished with 2 to 7 years in prison.
Earlier this week, authorities launched checks in several educational and medical institutions, both in Bucharest and nationwide, after they received threatening emails.
“I will enter the school with two Beretta pistols,” read the message. “I will cause a true massacre,” added the person who sent the e-mail.
Police quickly established that there was no real danger, but continued investigations and increased security at the threatened institutions.
They reportedly uncovered that the one who allegedly sent the messages was a 17-year-old from Bucharest. The young man is a student at the Theoretical High School “Hristo Botev” in Bucharest, and is seen as a well-behaved youth.
Nevertheless, the teenager was charged by the FBI for similar acts in the past. In 2023, he sent hundreds of bomb threats to public institutions in the United States.
He is also accused of having contacted several girls in the United States during 2023–2024 and initiating romantic relationships with them. He then encouraged them to produce and share explicit sexual content. Sometimes, when a victim refused to provide explicit material or to commit violent acts as requested, he sent bomb threats to institutions in the US, indicating that the girl who did not obey him was the perpetrator. The youth admitted his wrongdoing when interrogated.
In response, US authorities issued an arrest warrant in his name, but in May 2025, Romania’s High Court of Cassation and Justice definitively rejected the request for the youth’s extradition. The court justified the decision by citing that the accused was a minor, as well as the different legislation of the two states regarding penalties.
The court also cited the student’s medical situation, noting that he suffers from certain neurological conditions and is under specialized treatment. Prosecutors appealed the court’s decision, but judges of the High Court upheld the lower court’s ruling.
Placed under house arrest since January of this year, the young man was granted permission by judges to attend classes.
After the threatening messages were sent, the student was picked up by police and taken in for questioning on Wednesday, September 24. Police sources said he sent messages to over 80 schools in Bucharest and in 24 counties, according to HotNews.
The following day, Thursday, September 25, the young man was admitted to Obregia Psychiatric Hospital in Bucharest. He admitted to sending the emails and told investigators that he had an accomplice, a 14-year-old girl, with whom he allegedly planned the entire scheme.
“It appears that this is a young man who, unfortunately, has not understood anything from the situations he caused,” justice minister Radu Marinescu said in statements for Digi24. “It is very, very important for people who find themselves as victims or targets of such online actions to promptly inform judicial authorities,” he added.
(Photo source: Cateyeperspective | Dreamstime.com)
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