School threats on social media a serious concern
Just a day after Salinas police investigated a social media post referencing a school shooting, tragedy unfolded during a deadly mass shooting at a college campus in Oregon.
Fortunately, Salinas police determined that there was no danger posed by the threat, specifically a Twitter post of graffiti referencing a school shooting, put up by a 14-year-old Salinas High School student.
When officers arrived to the campus early Wednesday, school administrators had already identified the student and held him in the office. A search of the student’s property and home turned up no additional evidence, and the student claimed to not have been responsible for the graffiti, according to Salinas police.
After an extensive investigation that included interviews of staff and students, it was determined that there was no further threat to the school. The 14-year-old student was taken to juvenile hall on suspicion of terrorist threats.
While social media posts threatening schools are not very common in the area, authorities take any and all of them very seriously, said Salinas Police Deputy Chief Terry Gerhardstein.
“With social media, people become so impulsive in putting out information. No matter how bad it is, they don’t think about how bad it is. They don’t think about terror it puts in people’s minds, they don’t think about law enforcement’s response later on,” Gerhardstein said.
When a threat is reported to authorities, they immediately work on locating the person who posted the threat and investigate to see if the person who made the threat had the means and ability to carry it out.
While many believe that social media postings can be posted anonymously, authorities can track down the origin of threatening posts, even through social media sites like Yik Yak, which advertise themselves as a place to post anonymously.
Depending on the situation and whether the source of the social media threat has been located, a school campus may be locked down as authorities apply significant School threats on social media a serious concern: