Online Threat, Rumors Led To Modified Lockdown At Stillwater High

STILLWATER, MN — Stillwater Area High School was placed in a modified lockdown Tuesday after “rumors” spread about a social media post that appeared to threaten the school, according to Principal Rob Bach.

A high schooler posted a picture on social media that showed students holding a gun, Bach said in a video message. SAHS administrators were alerted to the post Monday night and worked with police to ensure the school was “safe and secure” for Tuesday morning, he said.

“Although the post was put on social media by a Stillwater Area High School student, at no time was there evidence of a direct threat” to the school or students, Bach said. “As school officials worked with law enforcement to continue processing this situation (Tuesday) morning, rumors and concern began to spread on social media to the point where we called a modified lockdown.”

Bach said officials placed the school in a modified lockdown to limit “uncontrolled student traffic” and stop them from leaving the building Tuesday.

The modified lockdown prohibited students from leaving their classrooms, but instruction and business continued “as usual” because there was no threat inside the school, Bach said.

The threat against Stillwater Area High School was not linked to other similar threats against schools in the Twin Cities, despite “posts on social media attempting to connect completely unrelated events to what happened” at the school, Bach said.

Police are investigating a threat against Maple Grove High School made on an Instagram account that had “MGHS” and “shooter” in its name, according to the school’s principal.

That threat is unrelated to the threat against Stillwater Area High School, Bach said, urging students to not “post anything on social media based on hearsay.”

“In the day and age of social media, there is simply no way to keep up with the wildfire that accompanies whatever the latest rumor is,” Bach said.

Oak Park Heights police coordinated with Stillwater Area High School officials and determined there was no credible threat against the school, the Twin Cities Pioneer Press reports.

Carissa Keister, director of communications for Stillwater Area Public Schools, said the district cannot share any information about the student who made the threat due to privacy laws.