Staten Island Teen Arrested in Apple Store Bomb Threat

A 17-year-old boy joking with his friends at the mall typed a letter on a computer at an Apple store threatening to inflict "bloody death" by blowing up a bomb there, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Jason Barry was charged with making a terrorist threat at his arraignment Wednesday in Staten Island Criminal Court. His attorney did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Barry told police he was only joking when he typed the letter under a friend's dad's name Monday and left it on the screen at the Apple store at the Staten Island Mall.

"I have threatened your store and all its employees with a bloody death ... whoever the crew maybe working, or the innocent citizens that walk in ... will be eliminated with the force of a ... bomb loaded with C4, strapped to my chest," the letter said, according to prosecutors.

The boys left the store and someone at Apple discovered the letter and called police.

Barry told police, according to a criminal complaint, that he typed the note and then forgot to delete it so when Apple found it, it looked like "a terrorist threat."

District Attorney Daniel Donovan said the threat has to be taken seriously in light of recent terrorist plots around the country.

"Although this defendant claims he was joking, a letter threatening to inflict 'a bloody death ...' is no joking matter," Donovan said. "There are serious consequences for this type of reckless behavior."

He faces seven years in prison on the charge. He was arrested Monday after the incident.