An 18-year-old New Jersey student, Michael Schmitt, faces years in prison for uploading a rap song that referenced a high school he attended on SoundCloud. James Caldwell High School in West Caldwell, New Jersey, went on lockdown on Saturday, February 24, after Schmitt's song was posted online, BuzzFeed News reported.

In an interview with BuzzFeed, Schmitt revealed he created a freestyle rap on February 24 at his mom's condo. The song included lyrics such as "you can suck my d**k" and "you're gonna get cracked on the head like an egg, b***h." Although Schmitt doesn't name anyone in the song, he reportedly referenced James Caldwell High in the track's title: "u lil sluts @ jchs
i love u all even tho yall hurt me and i forgive u. i would never hurt u." 

Although classes were not in session on the Saturday Schmitt uploaded his song, students were at James Caldwell High for a day-long music marathon, local CBS New York reported back in February. Administrators canceled the concert, and the school was placed on lockdown and then evacuated. 

According to BuzzFeed, an alarmed student who found Schmitt's song online alerted her mom, who alerted a teacher. A SWAT team subsequently appeared on the high school's campus. Authorities arrested Schmitt for creating a "false public alarm."

"It was like I was guilty the second I posted the song on SoundCloud," Schmitt told BuzzFeed. "They wouldn't let me explain myself."

Essex County acting county prosecutor Robert Laurino reportedly stated in a press conference, concerning Schmitt and three other individuals who were facing charges for making threats to schools, that these incidents were "not juvenile pranks."

"I'll be loud and clear: These are not juvenile pranks," he said according to BuzzFeed. "These are crimes that are punishable by up to five years imprisonment for an adult."

Before Schmitt's arrest, he had reportedly been suspended from James Caldwell High at least 10 times since 2016, BuzzFeed reported. The suspensions were a result of skipping class, spitting on another student and for testing positive for THC, an active chemical found in marijuana, among other reasons. He began a homeschooling program with the school this past October. 

He told BuzzFeed he "didn't think anything of it," when he added the high school's name to the track's title. 

Schmitt's song was posted just days after the deadly school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas in Parkland, Florida. Joseph Giordano, an assistant prosecutor on Schmitt's case, told BuzzFeed it's important for the state to be "mindful" when choosing to treat speech criminally. 

"We have to be mindful when dealing with any speech when choosing to treat it criminally," he said. He added, "It's truly a case-by-case evaluation… and they are time-consuming, but we've got to be right 100 [percent] of the time with these things."

Schmitt's profile picture on SoundCloud reportedly featured him posing with an apparent gun. His school resource officer, Detective Paul Mazzeo, told BuzzFeed Schmitt insisted it was a friend's plastic pistol, and there was no meaning behind the title track. Police reportedly said Schmitt allegedly later “attempted to conceal” evidence by not turning over the gun, which, BuzzFeed reports, police say was real.

His song also included lyrics: "…pull my gun" and "kill your (expletive) head, now you're dead, go to sleep," NJ.com reported. 

In March, a judge rejected a plea to detain Schmitt and instead placed him on home detention with electronic monitoring (where he's remained since), NJ.com reported at the time. On May 1, BuzzFeed reports that the family of a female classmate then placed a restraining order on Schmitt for “terroristic threats and cyber harassment.”

"They painted me as a school shooter, and that's terrifying," Schmitt told BuzzFeed News. "Whenever these school shootings are happening, it's scary to me that I'm being associated with that because of this rap song."

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