PORTLAND, Ore. — The onslaught of school threats across Oregon has terrified students and their families — causing some kids to stay home and forcing the temporary closure of campuses. Student discipline for threats of school violence has risen sharply, from 2,462 incidents in 2021-22 to 4,126 in 2023-24, according to Oregon Department of Education records.
A KGW+ streaming investigation examined what is driving this increase, who is behind the threats and what the community can do to help stop them.
On February 21, 2023, emergency dispatchers in eastern Oregon received a phone call about an active shooter at Hermiston High School.
“Please respond to Hermiston High School we have a report of shots fired at the school,” an emergency dispatcher said in audio recordings of the incident.
The caller, whose voice was difficult to understand, provided a room number in the high school and claimed to be a teacher.
“It was that kind of feeling at first, like, nobody knew,” explained Dr. Tricia Mooney, superintendent of the Hermiston School District.
More than 20 police officers from around the region responded to the scene. The school went into lockdown.
“Most of us have children who are in the school, or we know people who have kids in the school or know the teachers, so that takes it to another level,” said Lt. Robert Guerrero of the Hermiston Police Department.
Armed officers entered the building and within about three minutes determined the threat wasn’t real. There was no shooter.
“It kind of started to click that, ‘Okay, this isn’t real,'” said Mooney.
KGW found that same day there were seven other school threats across Oregon, including in LaGrande, Ontario, Ashland, South Medford, South Umpqua, Roseburg and Sutherlin. The hoax threats sent police officers scrambling to respond, then trying to calm public fear.
“I want to assure everyone that these reports so far are false.” Lt. Brad O’Dell of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office posted on a Facebook live video on February 21, 2023.
Audio of the threatening calls reviewed by KGW showed they came from the same voice and seemed to provide many of the same type of details, suggesting it was an orchestrated effort targeting various schools. No arrests have been made.
“It doesn’t matter the size of the school, the school district it is in, the state, the city, the county. It is nationwide,” explained Lt. Guerrero.
Where threats come from
Most school threats are far less sophisticated than those calls in February 2023.
“You’re going to hear about the gun threats. You’re going to hear about the school shooting threats,” explained Rick Puente, vice president of the Oregon School Resource Officers Association. “What you’re not going to hear about are some of the threats that come from our students who are struggling from mental health or other behavioral issues that create threats within the school walls.”
School resource officers say they’ve become inundated with social media posts displaying images of guns, lists of schools or targets and threatening warnings to stay home.
“Kids make a statement, ‘I’m angry! So, I should just shoot somebody,'” said Puente. “Those kinds of comments — they’re so vague, yet it’s not something we’re going to ignore.”
School safety researchers say copycat threats typically increase after high-profile shootings and there’s often an uptick at the beginning of every school year.
Threats of violence are nothing new, but social media and direct messages make them more visible and lasting.
“Sometimes those (threats) are about students that intend to cause a disruption. They want to shock people. Maybe they want to cause chaos in their school ... but I think that is a small percentage of threats,” said Courtenay McCarthy, school psychologist with Salem-Keizer Public Schools. “Most of the threatening communication that we see is about kids who are communicating with friends or communicating with others in an inappropriate kind of way.”
School safety experts say parents and kids could be making the problem worse by reposting threats on social media instead of just reporting to police. And the threats may not even be local. The threat may involve a school or city with the same name, but outside of the community.
“Sometimes people think they’re doing the right thing by reposting those messages, but unfortunately it is just spreading that panic and fear throughout the community,” said McCarthy.
Issues of accountability
The increase in school threats raises difficult questions about punishment.
KGW’s review of news reports and police statements indicate that in the past two years, at least 20 students have been arrested for making threats against schools in Oregon — some as young as 13 years old.
The FBI notes that not every case results in an arrest following a threat assessment.
“We will work with our local law enforcement partners, go out and ensure that there’s no access to weapons, we’ll talk to that individual's parents, the school, we’ll work with the community and circle around that individual and get them the help they need,” explained Doug Olson, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Portland office.
Even in districts where students and staff have been traumatized by threats, there’s a belief that decision-makers should consider factors like the nature of the threat and intent behind it.
“There’s sometimes still a child who made that threat who is hurting or has a need and how do we support that child and help them meet their needs,” said Superintendent Mooney.
The increase in school threats poses a risk to all schools. The challenge is responding appropriately — by taking threats seriously, reporting them to police and encouraging kids to come forward with concerns.
“It’s all of our responsibility to keep our community safe, to keep our schools safe,” said Mooney.