Warrant provides new details on man charged with threatening to shoot Wake students

New details are coming out about the case of a man charged with threatening to shoot students at an elementary school in Wake Forest, as concerned parents are about to hold another community meeting.

Arthur Vladimir Kochetkov, 33, of Wake Forest, was arrested last week on charges of communicating threats on Facebook against students at Jones Dairy Elementary School and of making a false report concerning mass violence on educational property.

Kochetkov’s arrest has led to increased security measures at Jones Dairy, including an armed off-duty Wake County sheriff’s deputy patrolling the campus. The PTA at Jones Dairy is holding a meeting Thursday night at Heritage Middle School’s auditorium for parents to discuss the security situation with Wake County school officials.

The case has reached a level to where the Town of Wake Forest says that the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the State Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Attorney’s office are among the groups working on this case.

A search warrant of Kochetkov’s residence that was returned this week provides more details about what led to the arrest.

According to the warrant, Wake Forest police were contacted on Sept. 16 by the Town of Greece Police Department in New York. Greece police had been contacted by a person who had seen several Facebook posts, allegedly from an account set up by Kochetkov, where he threatened to shoot schools and students.

Screenshots of the Facebook posts in the search warrant are full of expletives where Kochetov talks about being a military veteran and references media reports from when he was arrested in June on a charge of trespassing at the school. The posts include multiple references about shooting children and students.

Kochetkov’s family has said that despite the wording in the posts that he was not a threat to act on any on any of them.

The search warrant also includes details such as how Kochetkov had allegedly been seen earlier this year photographing locks on doors at Jones Dairy.

Wake Forest police used the Facebook posts as evidence to arrest Kochetkov and to get a search warrant for his residence, where he lives with his mother. The home is next to the school, which has prompted some parents to say they’ll pull their children from Jones Dairy if he’s released.

According to the search warrant, two air rifles and a hatchet were retrieved but no firearms were found. Police also confiscated several other items, including smartphones and computers.

Kochetkov is currently being held at the Wake County jail on a $200,000 secured bond. New conditions added Friday include that Kochetkov can’t be within a mile of the school if he’s released.

This story was originally published September 26, 2018 at 3:17 PM.