Threat Suspect Re-Arrested

A clerical mistake leads to the re-arrest of a man who threatened to shoot up Skiatook schools.  Less than an hour after the Northern Oklahoma Violent Crimes Task Force got the call that the man had accidentally been released, they had him re-arrested and in custody.

Court records show 27-year-old David Silvey, Junior called a mental health professional last fall and told that counselor he'd been consumed with thoughts of doing the next school shooting and had picked Skiatook schools as his target.

Police got a search warrant for Silvey's home and seized handwritten notes that concerned them greatly.  The list originally had Owasso schools, but it was crossed out and replaced with Skiatook.  It included things like getting a mask to hide his identity, getting a gun from a relative and figuring out a way to access the school.

"These days and times, with school shootings going on all over the country, this information is taken very seriously, can't not take it seriously so an investigation was done and he was arrested," said Tulsa Police Sgt. Chris Witt.

After a hearing on Thursday, a clerk accidentally wrote that the case was dismissed and that Silvey should be released.  Following that order, the jail released him Thursday night.

When the mistake was noticed Friday morning, Skiatook schools were called.

"They were put on notice he'd been released. The police department in Skiatook took it very seriously and placed officers in the schools in the Skiatook area, in every school in the Skiatook area," said Tulsa Police Officer Chris Witt.

The Northern Oklahoma Violent Crimes Task Force was asked to find Silvey and get him back into jail.  Realizing the urgency of the request, they found him 40 minutes later at a downtown Tulsa homeless shelter.

"Here's a guy who not only had those thoughts in October of '07, but now's sat in jail the last several months thinking about it. The possibility of that aggravating him even further to go and do something, so we have to take that seriously," said Tulsa Police Sgt. Chris Witt.

The superintendent of Skiatook schools is out of town, but told The News On 6 in addition to placing officers at the schools, they posted Silvey's picture on the entrances until he was recaptured.

They plan to send a letter home to parents about the incident.

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