BROWNSBURG, Ind. — A Rwandan refugee enrolled at Brownsburg High School faces a felony intimidation charge after police say he threatened to shoot up the school and kill officers.
Merci Habimana, 18, was arrested last week by the Brownsburg Police Department after the local high school received violent threats over Instagram.
Habimana had already been arrested by BPD just 10 days prior for minor consumption of alcohol and intimidation of an officer.
Threatening police
BPD officers were called on May 20 to an area near apartments on Rothchild Place for a welfare check. A caller reported to 911 that a male was lying in his car with the doors open and was throwing up.
Upon arrival, BPD said officers found Habimana in the driver's seat of a red Ford Focus with the doors propped open and a bottle of Christian Brothers Brandy visible. The officer, who saw vomit outside the car, reportedly had to nudge the male for him to come to.
The male, later identified as Habimana, said he lived nearby and showed officers his license. While searching his car, BPD said they found two bottles of Stella Artois beer and various beverage caps. The car had a flat front tire and no keys in the ignition.
During a breath test, BPD said Habimana blew a .33 despite giving a "mediocre blow." He was detained for minor in consumption of alcohol.
As officers began handcuffing Habimana, he reportedly became belligerent and tried to pull away. Once placed inside a squad car, BPD said Habimana claimed he was only being arrested because he was Black and began threatening an officer and his family.
"He stated when he got out he was going to find us," an officer wrote. "At one point I believed to hear him say he was going to kill me but due to his accent it was hard to understand. He also stated he would grab my gun."
Habimana was eventually taken to the Hendricks County Jail and booked on felony intimidation and minor alcohol charges.
'I wish to shoot 1,000 students'
A week later, on May 28, court documents show that Habimana was told by the principal at Brownsburg High School that he would be held back as a Junior and would not graduate with the class of 2025.
Then, around 6 p.m. that night, one of BHS' official Instagram accounts received messages from an account named "unknown_202473774."
"I wanna kill three of see u," the post read. "Fc bhs I hate you all maybe 1 day in dis week I wish to shoot 1000 students before they going in summer break see you gloom Sunday."
The note was accompanied by three emojis depicting the "theatrical tragedy/comedy" mask.
Brownsburg Community School Police officials were made aware of the threat and soon contacted BPD to handle the threat investigation.
Investigating Habimana
BPD began requesting account information from Meta, the parent company of Instagram. Eventually, after several data requests to different companies, police were able to place Habimana as the owner of the account.
Court documents show that, in addition to the police intimidation arrest, Habimana has been a part of several BPD runs between December 2023 and May 2024.
One of the runs for a simple assault listed Habimana as an involved party and stated he was a sophomore at BHS. Another run stated that Habimana's home language is Swahili-Tanzania and that he is a Rwandan refugee.
After identifying Habimana as the suspect, BPD began surveilling the 18-year-old while they awaited search warrants. Once Habimana arrived at his apartment, police made contact and searched his phone.
Admission
During an interview at BPD headquarters, court documents show that Habimana admitted to being angry and upset over being held back. He also admitted to police that he was the one who posted on Instagram threatening to shoot Brownsburg students.
"I then read it aloud and he explained what [the message] meant," police said. "He said that he was angry over what happened to him. He advised me that he had no intentions of hurting anyone."
Due to him being 18, Habimana was charged as an adult with "intimidation with threat of a forcible felony" and taken to the Hendricks County Jail. Court records show that Habimana has also been trespassed by Brownsburg School Police from all school property.
A pretrial conference for Habimana's newest intimidation charge is scheduled for Friday, June 7.