Guns, Ammo Found in SUV of Man Charged in Portsmouth High Threat

🔴 Kyle Hendrickson told investigators the video threat to Portsmouth High School was made after dropping his mother off for work at the school

🔴 He told investigators the video was a "joke"

🔴 His SUV had an AR-15 rifle and numerous rounds of ammunition in the trunk

A search of the vehicle used by the man who posted a video threat against Portsmouth High School found an AR-15 rifle and numerous rounds of ammunition in the trunk as startling details become known about the threat.

Classes at all Portsmouth schools were canceled on Thursday after police became aware of a video posted on Snapchat by Kyle Hendrickson, 25, of Berwick. He was arrested Thursday afternoon at his girlfriend's home in Portland, according to the complaint in the case issued by Jane Young, the U.S Attorney for the District of New Hampshire

According to the complaint, the video showed Hendrickson sitting in the driver's side of a white 2014 Ford Explorer parked in front of Portsmouth High School. Hendrickson waves a pistol at a man in the passengers seat as the words "imma shoot up the school" appear.

Hendrickson made the video after dropping his mother, Michelle Almon, off at the school where she works, the complaint states. School security video shows a car sitting in front of the school Wednesday morning at approximately 11:10 a.m., according to the complaint.

The other man in the SUV, identified as Duncan O’Brien, told police that while he was "uncomfortable" with Hendrickson pointing the gun at him, he didn't think Hendrickson posed a threat to the school. O'Brien told investigators he was unaware the video was posted online

Video Was Made as a Joke

Hendrickson later told police while he was being questioned that the video was made as a "joke", but did not offer further explanation. He told detectives he would not do "that" because he had a relative at the school.

A search of Hendrickson's Explorer he bought with girlfriend Ashley Slaughter on April 10 at an Auburn, Maine, dealership, revealed an AR-15 rifle, shotgun, camouflage body armor, a handgun holster, a red-dot sight, and numerous rounds of ammunition, according to the complaint.

Investigators also found a shotgun inside a mattress at Slaughter's home.

A handgun that resembles the one used in the Snapchat video was recovered behind a Freeport motel where Hendrickson and Slaughter had stayed Wednesday night. Slaughter put the pistol in the woods behind the hotel because she was "uncomfortable" with it being in the room.

Hendrickson was charged with transmitting in interstate commerce a threat to injure the person of another.

An emailed bomb threat received Friday against Rochester Middle School led to the cancellation of classes.  An investigation into the origin of the threat is ongoing by Rochester police, plus state and federal agencies.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNH