A rash of online threats targeting North Texas schools has several communities on edge and law enforcement scrambling to to assess the credibility of each incident.
While officials claim that none of the threats were credible (and some arrests have been made), the wave of incidents follows the deadly school shooting that visited a Georgia community last month and prompted renewed calls for anti-gun legislation, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
According to a report by the American College of Surgeons, school shootings have surged dramatically over the past 53 years, with incidents increasing more than 12-fold through May 2022.
In 2023, a record-high 346 school shooting incidents occurred in the United States, averaging almost one per day, per U.S. News & World Report. California and Ohio led with 25 incidents each, while Texas had 23.
Texas responded by enacting a law requiring an armed guard on every public school campus. Some school districts, however, like Dallas ISD, cried poverty (despite having an enormous budget) and sought certain exemptions from the statute’s requirements.
Here is some of what Fox 4 KDFW reported on the most recent rash of threats:
Police across North Texas are sending a warning to people making school threats after recently causing several problems at area schools.
This week alone, we’ve seen students arrested and even a school district canceling classes for the day because of these threats.
Police tell FOX 4 the threats are mostly fake, copied and pasted from similar threats. However, it’s enough to keep campuses on alert.
One of the challenges for law enforcement is vetting the threats. Schools work with their local police department and also contact the FBI for assistance.
Each threat has to be investigated, causing North Texas school districts to respond differently this week.
Edna Nunez explains the discomfort of dropping her children off at Byrd Middle School in Duncanville — especially this week.
“It’s scary. It is scary because you never know when it is going to happen,” she said. “Everybody has a phone. With a phone, they can do a lot of things.”
Duncanville ISD called a press conference Wednesday, saying it’s seen a concerning number of reports of school threats via social media.