By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
A 36-year-old Thurston County woman was arrested this morning after law enforcement was notified of a tip from the FBI of a message which stated in part, “I’m about to shoot up a school full of children just to be heard.”
The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office was notified at 6:19 a.m. today, and deputies went to her home and based on her demeanor and answers to their questions, believed she posed a threat, according to Lt. Cliff Ziesemer.
They took her into custody and booked her in to the Thurston County Jail for felony harassment, he said.
School had not yet started, so schools weren’t notified at that time, Ziesemer said. All law enforcement in Thurston County was notified of it, however, he said.
The lieutenant said details are not yet known, such as if the woman had a particular school in mind or if she had taken any substantial steps toward such action. She lives in the Steam Boat Island area outside Olympia, he said.
Ziesemer said Karen M. Kibler had access to weapons, but there were none in her home.
“It appears that she’s ‘mental’,” he said. “She’s been diagnosed with mental problems.”
The information came from the FBI’s Guardian Operations Unit, a group he hadn’t heard of until this morning, he said. The alert read as though Kibler had given the information about herself to them, he said.
The unit said it got the tip at 5:26 a.m. EST., according to Ziesemer.
The investigation will continue, he said.
Kibler’s first court appearance will be at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, in Thurston County Superior Court, according to the sheriff’s office.