Several middle school students have been charged with making threats against other school districts.
AUSTIN, Texas — Multiple local law enforcement agencies have detained people this week after various school districts in Central Texas received threats on social media.
A man was arrested in connection with threats against an Austin elementary school and students were taken into custody in connection with threats against other school districts.
Hays CISD middle school student charged with menacing
Three Hays CISD middle school students are facing legal action after school district leaders say they helped spread a false shooting threat on social media.
Hays CISD began investigating the threats Wednesday night, and a sixth-grader was subsequently taken into custody for allegedly spreading threats that specifically mentioned Simon Middle School. A second student, a friend of the sixth-grader, was also taken into custody Friday.
In an unrelated incident, a third middle school student was charged in connection with the threats made against McCormick Middle School.
The Snapchat threat against the middle school was reported to the FBI on Thursday night, which notified the Hays County Sheriff’s Office. The school district said the student did not have the means to carry out the threat but acknowledged posting it.
Student arrested for allegedly making threats to multiple districts
In a letter to parents on Friday, the Marble Falls Independent School District said that over the past two weeks, “schools and districts across the state, including Marble Falls Independent School District, have been confronted with rumors and threats on social media.”
On Thursday evening, the school district announced it had been made aware of new threats on social media involving Marble Falls Independent School District and other local school districts, while both Blanco Independent School District and Llano Independent School District also announced that officials were investigating social media threats about possible violence in the Johnson City, Marble Falls, Llano and Blanco school districts.
In an update late Thursday night, the Blanco Independent School District said “the individual who wrote the threatening note has been detained and does not pose a threat,” while the Marble Falls Independent School District said in an email Friday morning that “one student has been detained pending investigation.”
Marble Falls, Johnson City, Blanco and Llano Independent School Districts all said they had increased law enforcement presence on their campuses in response to the threats.
Liberty Hill Independent School District in turmoil
Meanwhile, in the Liberty Hill Independent School District, students reported that campus officers had been shown threatening images of a young student with a gun.
Within minutes, the district discovered that a social media post had listed “Liberty School” among a long list of schools that students had threatened to attack — and later learned that the school was in fact in Georgia.
“We are grateful to the students who immediately contacted campus officials after seeing the images online,” the district said in a statement, “which enabled us to launch an investigation immediately and get results quickly.”
Reaction after the threat
In addition to the school districts already mentioned, Manor Independent School District and Hutt Independent School District also sent notices to parents about social media threats on Thursday. Cedar Park Police said Friday that they were aware of social media posts reporting a shooting at “Cedar Park High School/Vista Ridge,” but that no shootings have occurred at either campus.
Despite the variety of sources, school districts must take all threats seriously.
“Unfortunately, in today’s society, any threat that comes out, we take it seriously until we can prove it’s not true,” said Liberty Hill Independent School District Police Chief Chris Rybalski.
Officials in several school districts, including Liberty Hill Independent School District, said students who make or spread threats will be held accountable, regardless of whether the threats are false.
“Our position is that if there are threats against our campus or against our school district, we will prosecute. We will file charges. We will make arrests,” Rybalski said.
Rybalski said parents should immediately notify police and the school if their child shows them anything that could be perceived as a threat to avoid being charged with spreading threats.
