Updated 4 p.m. March 18 with information from the initial court hearing

Larry Delcamp was charged with a felony count of intimidation in relation to the March 17 shelter in place at Sacajawea Elementary School.

Delcamp currently lives in Laurel, but was planning to a surprise visit to see his son, a student at Sacajawea, according to court documents.

The boy’s mother called a school resource officer around 10:30 a.m. concerned about Delcamp’s visit.

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The SRO was already familiar with Delcamp’s planned visit as she had spoken with the Sacajawea principal, Ty Moore, that morning. Moore had asked if there there a protection order in place that would prevent Delcamp from visiting his son, but none existed and Moore had no court paperwork prohibiting such a visit, according to court documents.

Moore allowed the visit, but shortly afterward the boy’s mother called the SRO and notified her of a video she’d received a few weeks ago from a friend that was a recording to Delcamp threatening to shoot the principal, teachers and students.

The boy’s mother sent the video, dated Feb. 11, to the SRO. It appeared to be from a home surveillance system and Delcamp is visible and audible talking about his custody situation with his son and saying that he might snap and “shoot the principal, the teachers and the students. I don’t give a f***,” according to court documents.

The SRO called Moore and advised him of the video. Moore sent a message to Delcamp via Parent Square telling him not to come to the school at this time and was unable to contact Delcamp by phone didn’t Delcamp didn’t have an operable number. Moore didn’t hear back from Delcamp.

Due to the threats, the SRO put Sacajawea into shelter in place, responded to the school and parked outside in her patrol vehicle, along with other Great Falls Police officers, according to court documents.

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Around noon, the SRO saw Delcamp pull into the Sacajawea parking lot and placed him in custody. She searched him for weapons and found none on his person, according to court documents. He was transported to the GFPD for a recorded interview.

He was read his Miranda rights and agreed to speak to the SRO without an attorney.

Delcamp told the SRO that he was planning on moving back to Great Falls and had a job interview at a restaurant on March 17. He said he’d made plans with Moore to surprise his son at school for St. Patrick’s Day, according to court documents.

Delcamp told the SRO that he hadn’t received further messages from Moore and denied having any issues with the principle. 

The SRO showed Delcamp the video and he said he was talking to himself, reordered without his knowledge or permission and “didn’t say what principal” he wanted to shoot, according to court documents.

Delcamp told the SRO he didn’t own any firearms or have any in vehicle, as he’s not legally permitted to own firearms due to a previous firearm conviction.

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“As a result of the threating language, and inability to contact [Delcamp], the elementary school was placed into lockdown in anticipation of a possible violent incident. Based on [Delcamp’s] language in the video, [the SRO] concluded that if [Delcamp] was not permitted to see his son, he would shoot the principal, faculty, and students of the elementary school,” prosecutors wrote in their charging document.

Delcamp is scheduled to make an initial appearance in district court at 1 p.m. March 18, during which prosecutors are requesting that Delcamp be trespassed from all Great Falls Public Schools property, according to Cascade County Attorney Josh Racki.

Delcamp and the boy’s mother have a current child custody case in district court that was initially filed in 2023, according to court records.

Prosecutors are requesting a $50,000 bond based primarily on the “community safety concern,” and Delcamp’s criminal history that includes felony convictions in 2024 for theft and possession of a stolen firearm, with some probation violations and misdemeanor convictions since then, including drug possession and obstructing a peace officer, according to court documents.

Tyler Fries, a public defender, represented Delcamp for his initial court appearance before Judge David Grubich on March 18.

During that hearing, Fries argued that the prosecution didn’t have probable cause to support the felony intimidation charge, which states:

A person commits the offense of intimidation when, with the purpose to cause another to perform or to omit the performance of any act, the person communicates to another, under circumstances that reasonably tend to produce a fear that it will be carried out, a threat to perform without lawful authority any of the following acts:

(a) inflict physical harm on the person threatened or any other person;

(b) subject any person to physical confinement or restraint; or

(c) commit any felony.

(2) A person commits the offense of intimidation if the person knowingly communicates a threat or false report of a pending fire, explosion, or disaster that would endanger life or property.

(3) A person convicted of the offense of intimidation shall be imprisoned in the state prison for any term not to exceed 10 years or be fined an amount not to exceed $50,000, or both.

“I do not believe that the circumstances show that this was a reasonable threat,” Fries said since the child’s mother was sent the video on Feb. 11 and “she did nothing for six weeks.”

Fries said the recording was being unreasonably used and it was “not reasonable that any harm was going to happen.”

Preston Rammell, a deputy Cascade County attorney, said that the state was charging under the second subsection of communicating a threat or false report of a disaster, which in this case would be a school shooting.

He said that it’s alleged Delcamp was surreptitiously recorded, but schools and law enforcement need to respond to threats of violence with sensitivity.

Rammell said that the video was shared with the Sacajawea student’s mother and more than a month later, when there would be contact when the threats could occur, “that’s when the threat went from being background noise to a real threat.”

That’s when the mother reported it to the school and SRO who took action.

He said the March 17 shelter in place at Sacajawea didn’t mean the investigation was over as there were still questions to be asked.

Fries said he understood the actions taken by the school and SRO, “they were right to do so.”

That wasn’t the defense’s issue, he said, rather that a serious crime was being charged “based on vibes. We do not charge people with essentially bluffing a school shooting at an elementary school…with this type of information. [The prosecution] do not have enough right now to hang this charge.”

Grubich said that whether the video was recorded without Delcamp’s knowledge and whether it was a bluff or not to be taken seriously would be argued down the road in court, “but as far as probable cause goes, I find it.”

Fries asked for a bond reduction since Delcamp had limited resources to pay.

He said Delcamp, 38, was in Billings, but would be staying in Cascade County for the duration of the case, his mother and son are here and that he would be able to get employment upon release from the jail.

Grubich maintained bond at $500,000 because “this is a serious matter than isn’t generally taken lightly.”

He ordered that Delcamp be placed on GPS monitoring before release, which would be paid for by the county’s pre-trial monitoring program.

Here’s a brief overview of GFPS safety protocols and more information is available here.