LONGVIEW, Wash. — Longview Public Schools plans to implement extra security measures on Monday, after the Longview Police Department arrested a teen in connection to a series of social media threats targeting Longview Public Schools.
On Sunday afternoon, the school district sent out a letter to parents and families addressing the online social media threats and uptick in security measures for Monday.
In the letter, the district said that late last week and over the weekend they became aware of many threats spreading across social media. Following protocol, the district brought in the Longview Police Department to look into the threats. The findings of the investigation by Longview police lead to the arrest of a teen in connection to the threats, according to Longview Public Schools.
The district said that schools will run on normal schedules this week, and is taking extra caution by implementing extra security on Monday by having Longview Police officers and extra school staff members present at the schools where the threats were focused.
The 13-year-old boy was arrested Saturday by authorities, after making direct threats to Mt. Solo Middle School on Snapchat. Police said it is not clear what school he attended.
Longview Police Department Sergeant Brian Streissguth said they have seen several school threats through Snapchat last week, with some being vague "veiled" threats, while others singled out certain schools. He said the department chases every lead, and while other schools in the district received threats, they weren't credible, with some even coming from out of state.
"One of the threats we’ve determined was from an outside school district in Ohio, and so some schools, some of the kids had reposted that threat, believing that it belonged to our school," said Streissguth.
More teens arrested for school threats
This comes as another teen was taken under arrest and faces charges in connection to a social media threat made against Sweet Home High School in Linn County, Oregon. All schools in the Sweet Home School District closed on Sept. 12 and 13, but were open again Monday.
Even earlier in the week, two teens with guns outside Mountain View High School in Vancouver were arrested, after police said they learned about another social media message that involved a threat to shoot outside that school to possibly confront a specific student.
There was another arrest on Monday morning, when Kalama police said a 14-year-old student made threats about a shooting at Kalama High School in Washington. A spokesperson with the school district, Nick Shanmac, said the student who first heard about the threats reached out to authorities.
"The student who reported it did the right thing and that’s to take these things seriously," Shanmac said. "If you see something, say something. So we are just appreciative of that student for speaking up."
Police urged that if you see or hear something suspicious, reporting it is always better than just sending the posts around.
"We want students to understand that when they post these things, it creates a wildfire of concern, but we would rather them come to a parent, come to a teacher, come to an administrator or the police directly so we can stop the threats," Streissguth said.