Former Winona ISD student pleads guilty to terroristic threat towards school

TYLER – A 20-year-old was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to terroristic threat in a Smith County court. According to our news partner KETK, Tyler Auston Tate was indicted in February 2022 and entered a guilty plea on April 6. Tate was arrested in December 2021 after the FBI National Threat Operations Center received a tip about a possible shooting threat at Winona High School, where he was a student at the time. According to the sheriff’s office, evidence was gathered including documentation of credible threats of death and/or serious bodily injury to individual students at the high school. Tate was found incompetent to stand trial on June 15 of last year. A status hearing was held on Jan. 18, then Tate appeared in court again in April to plea and be sentenced.