Schools around the country have received a surge of hundreds of violent threats following a Sept. 4 shooting at a Winder, Ga., high school—sparking closures, fear, and student arrests.
Upon investigating, law enforcement later found that many of those threats were not credible or imminent. But those determinations often came after the messages caused significant disruption and raised tough questions for school administrators about how to respond.
The uptick in threat reports has several causes. It’s likely that the shooting at Apalachee High School, where four people died, inspired copycat threats, as is the case following news cycles centered on acts of violence, said Kenneth Trump, an Ohio-based school safety consultant.
“It’s normal to see a contagion effect where these threats spike and spread usually for a week or two after a high-profile mass school shooting,” he said.
Headlines about the Georgia tragedy may have also inspired heightened vigilance from onlookers, who may be more likely to report concerning posts on social media.
Other schools closed after receiving baseless bomb threats, many from foreign actors looking to sow chaos, officials said. That phenomenon is similar to a rush of so-called swatting calls in recent years, in which callers reported hoax school shootings in progress to law enforcement, causing massive disruption and emergency response. Law enforcement officials determined in 2023 that many of those swatting calls likely came from the same caller outside of the country.
The nation’s political discourse may have also contributed to the rash of threats.
The Springfield, Ohio, district has closed or evacuated several schools daily since former President Donald Trump shared false rumors about the city’s Haitian immigrant population in a recent debate. Officials determined that many of those threats came from overseas, Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, said Monday. He sent 36 state troopers to secure the city’s schools and reassure frightened families.
“We cannot let the bad guys win,” DeWine said at a press conference, calling rumors about Springfield’s immigrants “garbage.”
Law enforcement probes origins of school threats
Leaders of districts elsewhere said they were working to determine the origins of hundreds of bomb threats, many of which involved few details and were left on school voicemail systems. And law enforcement agencies in several affected communities said they would probe whether local threats were connected to a rush of reports in other states.
“It is our goal to get this figured out quickly and return to normal,” Minco, Okla., Superintendent Kevin Sims said in a message to parents Monday. He canceled school Tuesday after a bomb threat provoked lockdowns in the district Monday.
Other schools dealt with threats from local students.
In Harrisonburg, Va., police arrested a 16-year-old student Monday evening after he allegedly threatened online to “shoot up” the city’s high school and provided “detailed plans on how this act would be carried out,” the agency said. Modesto, Calif., police arrested a middle school student Monday after classmates said they heard him threaten to commit a shooting, news station KCRA reported.
Mike Chitwood, the sheriff of Volusia County, Fla., took a more dramatic approach, committing in a Sept. 13 news conference to post the names and mugshots of students arrested for threats on social media. Law enforcement agencies typically protect the identities of juvenile suspects.
“Since parents, you don’t want to raise your kids, I’m going to start raising them,” Chitwood said. “Every time we make an arrest, your kid’s photo is going to be put out there. And if I can do it, I’m going to perp-walk your kid so that everybody can see what your kid’s up to.”
Volusia County officers arrested an 11-year-old boy on Monday after they said he made a threat of a shooting at a local middle school and showed off an arsenal of weapons—which later turned out to be knives, swords, airsoft guns, and fake ammunition—to classmates in a video chat. The boy said the threat was a joke, the agency said in a news release after Chitwood shared his photo on X.
Law enforcement officials urged parents and educators to remind students that threats and threatening messages on social media could lead to criminal charges. In some cases, agencies have also required students to pay restitution to cover the costs of the police response following a threat, said Kenneth Trump, the safety consultant, who is not related to the former president.
“Parents need to have that conversation with their kids about what happens after you press ‘send,’” he said.
Schools should develop consistent responses in advance
The volume of threats in recent weeks is an important reminder to schools to update their processes for threat assessment, a team-based approach for assessing the severity of threats and determining if students need supportive measures, like counseling, so they don’t harm themselves or others, Trump said. Threats are generally deemed more imminent if they include specific details, like names, times, and locations.
Experts in threat assessment have cautioned against strictly punitive approaches like arrests, noting that many students share baseless threats as a cry for help. Automatic, steep criminal penalties may also make some students less likely to report classmates’ concerning messages because they don’t want to get them in trouble, researchers have said.
Schools in states including Connecticut, Indiana, and Oregon, announced closures “out of an abundance of caution” Monday and Tuesday, even after determining threats discovered on social media weren’t credible.
School and district leaders must develop clear, consistent practices to determine when such closures are necessary, said Trump, the safety consultant, particularly at a time they are likely to face additional threats during the school year that may lead to further disruption.
“We’ve always stressed that school leaders need to assess and then react, not react and then assess,” he said.
Some schools keep a bomb threat checklist developed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security by the main office phone. If an employee receives a threat, they can document details like the sound of a caller’s voice to help law enforcement investigate. Staff can also help establish that a threat isn’t credible if they ask follow-up questions like what kind of bomb the caller is planning to use in their attack, Trump said.
Administrators should also have “shared mental models” about when closures are appropriate, he said. And they should have regular discussions about what kind of security measures, like increased visible police presence, are available if they decide to keep schools open.
“If you close, you need to know what you are going to do tomorrow or next week when this happens again,” Trump said.
