NORTH TEXAS — Several North Texas school districts called for increased police patrols near their campuses on Wednesday after a surge in social media posts threatening violence.
Online threats of violence at schools have spread from Waxahachie to Kemp. Although the threats were deemed not credible, local football games have been rescheduled.
Dallas Independent School District Police Chief Albert Martinez has numerous social media posts threatening violence at schools.
“What we saw was … pictures of guns,” Martinez said, “and they were saying they were going to shoot up the school.”
Students at every Dallas high school on Wednesday saw increased police presence on or near their campuses.
In Fort Worth, officers were also stationed at the district’s Wedgewood Middle School.
In Dallas, the rival football game between Lincoln and Madison had been scheduled for Thursday but DISD rescheduled it for Saturday morning, with the district citing online threats of violence as well as a deadly incident of violence last Friday at Kinkaid Stadium in which a 17-year-old boy was shot and killed after a game.
“If you look back at Friday’s murder, the shooting at the Lowe’s Truck Stop next to Kincaid Stadium, some of these threats are stemming from there,” Martinez said.
The Dallas Kimball-Midlothian game will also be moved to Midlothian.
Martinez and the school district stressed that the actions taken Wednesday were not based on a credible threat and that the increased police presence and rescheduling or moving football games are measures they believe are necessary at this time.