TUALATIN, Ore. — The Tualatin Police Department arrested a juvenile after they allegedly posted threatening messages of violence targeting students and staff at Hazelbrook Middle School last week.
On Sept. 29, students and staff at the school were evacuated due to a bomb threat to the school and the homes of staff, the superintendent and board members, sparked by a video that went viral on social media, the Tigard-Tualatin School District reported.
On Sept. 28, threatening messages of violence targeting students and staff were made on Snapchat. On the morning of Sept. 29, another threat was emailed to the school, triggering the evacuation.
In a joint statement posted on socials, the Tualatin Police Department, Washington County Juvenile Department and Tigard-Tualatin School District addressed the arrest and recent threat.
They revealed that an arrest was made in connection to the Snapchat threat and that the Washington County Juvenile Department received a law enforcement referral. A petition filed with the juvenile court lists charges for disorderedly conduct and telephonic harassments.
"The youth alleged to be responsible for the social media threat has been arrested by the Tualatin Police Department," the joint statement reads.
Due to Oregon law protecting the privacy of teens, and due to ongoing court proceedings, the agencies said that they are unable to provide any more specific details about the incident or the identity of the juvenile suspect.
In the statement, they address their commitment to community safety and plans to continue acknowledging concerns raised by parents and community members.
"While we cannot disclose the current status of the youth responsible for the threat in terms of enrollment, we assure students and parents that measures have been implemented to ensure their safety at Hazel brook Middle School and all TTSD schools since the threat was made," they said.
The Washington County Juvenile Department also said they plan to use "evidence-based" intervention practices when approached with situations of troublesome youth in order to hold them accountable.
The district told KGW that on Sept. 28, they received multiple reports from Safe Oregon about "concerning threats towards individuals and our school." The district said that they and Tualatin police decided those threats weren't credible, but the morning of Sept. 29 they received an email with "direct and detailed threats to staff and the school."
District officials clarified that a threat circulated on Snapchat on Thursday evening, followed by an email with more specific threats that came in just after 9 a.m. on Friday. Tualatin police were already at the school by that time.
The email contained bomb threats to the school, staff and the homes of the superintendent and board members, along with their personal addresses, Superintendent Sue Rieke-Smith said. The school began evacuating once they received the email.
On Oct. 2, the school district sent out an email to Hazelbrook families, notifying them that classes would resume on Oct. 3 because law enforcement had determined that the threat was "not credible." They also acknowledged that the contents of the threatening message had been shared on Snapchat.
The threat comes after a video went viral on social media last week showing an incident where a student is seen assaulting another student. The district believes the threat is connected to the video.
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