With the pain of the Florida school massacre still fresh, East Coast school systems are more careful than ever when it comes to security threats.
Arrests
A 15-year-old South Portland High School student was arrested after posting threats on Snapchat, using the phrase “shooting up the school,” WMTW reported. When arrested he was carrying a knife.Oklahoma City police arrested a 13-year-old after officials from the Western Heights school district reported a threat made against one of its schools. Schools were closed for Friday and Monday.
A 16-year-old Macon County, North Carolina, student was arrested on Feb. 14 for threatening violence to a school bus full of fellow students.
‘Potential by Credible Threat’
Five schools in Onslow County, North Carolina, were shut down Friday, Feb. 16, after school officials received what they called a “potential, but credible threat posted on social media,” WCTI12 reported.This was the second threat in two days and the third this week, which prompted significant police response, WCTI reported.
After investigating, police said that the threat was not credible, and the five schools: Swansboro High School, Swansboro Middle School, Queens Creek Elementary School, Swansboro Elementary School, and Sand Ridge Elementary School, were reopened by 9 a.m.
Elizabeth Stilley posted: “When is this going to end? When everyone is dead? Parents need to stop being a friend and start PARENTING. These kids have no respect or discipline and are numb to the thought of killing someone. “
Gina Partridge offered these hopes and wishes: “Hope they get the person quickly. Hope they charge them. If under 18 parents need to be charged as well. Start locking these kids up to teach them a lesson. Start making the parents accountable for the child they chose to have and raised. If that happens maybe more kids will get help or start thinking before they act stupid. Maybe it'll make parents monitor their kids better. “
Patricia Taylor Brown had some more information on the potential threat, “My son goes to the high school they don’t believe there is a weapon on campus but police is on campus looking for a child who attends the school.”
Nutley, New Jersey Schools Closed for Threats
All schools in Nutley, New Jersey, were closed on Friday, Feb. 16, as police investigated a security threat received the night before.An Instagram video with the soundtrack Foster the People song “Pumped Up Kicks” was investigated, and the person who posted it was questioned by the police. The song talks about a school’s shooting.
All seven schools in the district were closed.