SWEET HOME, Ore. — A boy is under arrest who authorities believe is responsible for a social media threat made against Sweet Home High School in Linn County. For the second day in a row, all schools in the Sweet Home School District closed on Friday.
On Thursday afternoon, Sweet Home Police Department announced the boy had been taken into custody and charged with first-degree disorderly conduct and unlawful possession of a firearm. He is being held at Linn Benton Juvenile Detention Center.
The boy, who is not a student in the district, made a reference to the high school in an online post while he was holding a pistol, police said on Wednesday. Schools closed on Thursday, and the district made the decision to remain closed on Friday before news of the arrest had been announced. Sweet Home police said this is "not due to any new or ongoing threat, but simply to avoid confusion since the closure had already been communicated."
The district said the Sweet Home Community Pool will be closed on Friday and all extracurricular activities are canceled or will be rescheduled, including the varsity football game that was scheduled to take place Friday night in Molalla. Classes will resume on Monday.
The district asked that anyone with relevant information about the threat to contact the Sweet Home Police Department. They said they'd add further updates as more information becomes available.
A separate threat was made toward Sweet Home High School over the summer, the school district said. An investigation determined that the threat was not credible. Sweet Home police also confirmed that the threat over the summer is unrelated.
KGW also spoke with the superintendent of Sweet Home School District, who said the decision to cancel school Thursday did not come lightly.
“We don’t take the decision to close school lightly. Yesterday was 9/11; tomorrow is Friday the 13th. There is a lot, unfortunately. There is a lot of this going on," said Superintendent Terry Martin.
He said safety is a priority and that the school district and the police have a great relationship with one another. Martin also made a point to mention that this event does not represent Sweet Home and called it a great community.
"It’s disappointing to hear this in such a small town. This isn’t what the towns actually about," said parent Chris Millard. “It’s heartbreaking to hear stuff like this. Whenever I went to school, we didn’t have this."
Millard's son said he found out about the threat during one of his classes Wednesday.
“I’m feeling kind of scared," said Austin Millard, an 8th grader who also takes some classes at Sweet Home High School.
Before the minor who made the threat was arrested, KGW asked Austin if he would feel safe in school again after this incident.
“A lot of these kids, they have a lot of friends around them, and no one knows if those other friends of them are involved, and that’s kind of scary going forward," he said.
Additionally, this all follows several other threats made to schools recently, including one Thursday, where it was alleged that a gun was brought to Scappoose High School and another Wednesday in Washington at Fort Vancouver High School, with the latter case leading to a lockdown.
No weapons were found in either of these instances.
Plus, there’s also been reports of threats this week within various school districts in multiple different states, including Texas, Iowa, Minnesota, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
This all follows a mass shooting at a Georgia high school that left four dead last week.
In response to recent shootings and threats of violence, Sweet Home Police Chief Jason Ogden said, “These types of threats, whether they be vague threats or legitimate bigger threats, they really have an impact on our nation, on our communities; they have an emotional impact on parents and students."
Greater Albany Public Schools
Other school districts in Oregon have also been investigating reported threats. A threat of violence toward South Albany High School was made on the social media platform Snapchat on the evening of Sept. 11, according to Greater Albany Public Schools.
KGW learned Thursday afternoon that Albany police determined there is no safety risk or credible threat to students and staff at South Albany High School, or any other school in the city. Albany police was able to identify the original juvenile who made the post. Through interviews, Albany police determined that the juvenile had confused South Albany High School with Sweet Home High School.
Multiple officers were present at South Albany High School on Thursday out of an abundance of caution.
Salem-Keizer Public Schools
Parents with kids in Salem-Keizer Public Schools reported safety concerns after some people saw a list of "targeted schools" circulating on social media. Salem-Keizer told KGW that they investigated with law enforcement and determined that the list of schools being shared was a list from the Georgia Department of Education of schools in that were targeted to receive additional support for students. Some of the school names in Georgia matched the names of schools in Salem-Keizer, which caused concern, the school district said.
"The safety of our students and staff is our top priority, which is why we take all reports seriously, even when they turn out to be misunderstandings," Salem-Keizer Public Schools said in a note to students, staff and families.
All schools in Salem-Keizer were running normally on Thursday.
Schools around the country have also been dealing with reported threats. The FBI provided a statement to KGW.
“The FBI takes potential hoax threats very seriously because it puts innocent people at risk. We work closely with our law enforcement partners to determine their credibility, share information, and take appropriate investigative action. As always, we encourage members of the public to remain vigilant and immediately report anything they consider suspicious to law enforcement.”