CHEYENNE — A jury found a student accused of threatening to “shoot up” Cheyenne’s East High School homecoming not guilty Tuesday of felony charges of terroristic threats.

Last September, Tyler Bathke was arrested after making “concerning statements” about having a gun, which led to a lockdown at East High.

Bathke’s trial began Monday morning, and after a little over a day of testimony and roughly an hour of deliberation, the jury found him not guilty of the charges. Because the incident took place in a school that legally cannot have cameras at certain locations, the jury had to rely on witness testimony and body cam footage of interviews.

“Use your common sense in evaluating all this evidence,” Bathke’s lawyer, assistant public defender Jason Chaulk, said. “Kids are kids. This case is not about why a kid is lying or what’s the motive behind a kid lying. That’s not what you have to evaluate. It’s whether you believe what they’re saying here in court.”

Jokes about guns

The student who reported Bathke to School Resource Officer Mike Fernandez, referred to as “B.B.” in court, testified that Bathke had approached her after health class, saying she shouldn’t go to homecoming because he was going to “shoot it up.”

In interviews with police, Bathke denied ever making these statements to B.B., but confirmed he had been joking about having a gun and how homecoming would be an easy target for a shooting with friends in class.

Fernandez testified that B.B. had reported her conversation with Bathke to him, though she did not know Bathke’s name at the time. Fernandez added that B.B. testified that Bathke had a gun similar to the one the SRO carries.

Subsequently, Fernandez and East High Principal Marc Kerschner determined there was an imminent threat, and the school went into a lockdown until Bathke was found.

Bathke’s car and person were searched with his permission, and no gun was found. Bathke was 18 at the time of the incident.

Bathke admitted to making jokes, but said he had no intentions of ever causing harm.

He was found to have a relatively realistic white paper gun, which he had made the night before the incident. He did not have the paper gun on him the day of the incident.

Because Bathke admitted to making statements about having a gun, no other students were interviewed.

Due to the disruptive nature of the incident, including the panic created within the school, officers applied for an arrest warrant for Bathke the following day.

Common sense

Both the prosecution and the defense urged the jury to consider the evidence and use their best judgment during their closing arguments Tuesday.

“We have to look at everything in context, and what he said in that context, going all the way back to this paper gun that you heard about,” Laramie County Assistant District Attorney Steven McManamen told the jury.

Bathke admitted to carrying around the paper gun in his waistband the day before the incident, showing it to students and mimicking shooting gestures.

“This shows the mindset that he was in, the flippant thoughts that he was having about school shootings,” McManamen said.

McManamen told the jury that Bathke had shown a disregard for the potential consequences of his actions.

“They don’t go to lockdown on a whim, because that’s a serious step to take,” McManamen said.

The prosecution argued that the lockdown that followed is the real harm caused by Bathke’s jokes.

“His actions caused an immediate widespread alarm in the school, shutting it down; they went into a lockdown, certainly a climate of fear when that happens,” McManamen said.

In his closing argument, Bathke’s lawyer challenged the notion that the jury should find Bathke guilty based on his statements.

“The state’s asking you to find Tyler Bathke guilty based on a dumb joke of saying, ‘I have a gun,’” Chaulk said. “I’m going to ask you to consider all the evidence. Consider the conflicting testimony; that’s reasonable doubt. The lack of investigation by Officer Fernandez raises a reasonable doubt.”

Three of Bathke’s peers testified, Chaulk said. B.B.’s testimony was conflicting, first saying that Bathke threatened homecoming, then saying he had a gun on him.

Another one of his peers testified that he had made the jokes, but immediately acknowledged them as jokes, and the other testified that she hadn’t heard him talk about guns or seen any guns on him at all.

“You heard the video,” Chaulk said. “Mr. Bathke knows it’s an inappropriate joke at this point, after he’s held at gunpoint by officers, told to get on the ground (and) put in handcuffs.”

Chaulk referred to a point in his testimony when Officer Fernandez said that Bathke didn’t act like it was a joke during his interviews.

“Why would he? He was just held at gunpoint by a bunch of law enforcement officers with rifles,” Chaulk said. “Anybody who is constantly joking would know the joke’s over.”

The jury ultimately found Bathke not guilty on all charges. His bail was released, and he is to be returned the funds he posted for bond.

Prior charges

Before his charges in Wyoming, Bathke was on probation for charges of sexual abuse of a child in Colorado, for an incident that happened when he was a minor.

Before his arraignment in Wyoming, he was extradited to Weld County, Colorado, on felony charges of failure to comply with his probation. According to Weld County documents, he was bonded out of the Weld County jail for those charges on a bond of $0.

He is not a registered sex offender in Wyoming or Colorado.

The Wyoming Tribune Eagle was unable to find any additional criminal record for Bathke.

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