(Press Release – Williams County Sheriff’s Department): On January 15th, 2018 the Williams County Sheriff’s Office received a letter informing our office of a bullying incident that occurred on a Montpelier school bus traveling from the Four County Career Center to the Montpelier School and a shooting incident involving a C02 powered bb pistol which occurred in the Montpelier School parking lot, on or about December 12, 2017.
Our office made contact with Montpelier Police Chief Dan McGee who confirmed they had a report of a criminal damaging incident involving Michael Counts Jr. and a C02 pistol. Chief McGee was asked if he would like to assist in the investigation of the incident and he declined, that they had closed their investigation.
Through our Investigation, it was determined that five separate shootings and a threatening incident took place over the course of two days involving at least four victims at three separate locations. On June 12, 2018, the Williams County Sheriff’s Office filed charges on Michael Counts Jr. for his involvement.
Since February 2018, our office has been working with County Prosecutors to deal with the investigation. A Special Prosecutor was appointed and had advised our deputies that numerous
misdemeanor charges were what they felt would be appropriate. We have filed charges on Michael Counts Jr. after a significant investigation with many statements from victims and eyewitnesses,
Due to the serious nature of these incidents, we could no longer wait. Regardless of how the Prosecutor and the court decide to handle these charges, our investigation will continue into how the matter was handled. School investigation reports will be·made public in the near future.