Multiple Saint Louis County Schools Received Threats Yesterday

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MO — Several schools in St. Louis County were placed on lockdown or closed entirely yesterday due to threats on social media or by phone.

Clayton High School cancelled classes Monday due to a Snapchat threat that featured a picture of a gun and a warning not to come to school. Parents contacted administrators about the post early Monday morning, and the decision to cancel school was made shortly before 5 a.m. "out of an abundance of caution," administrators said.

"We have been working with Clayton police throughout the night to investigate. However, given the timing and the limited amount of information we have at this point, the best way to ensure the safety of our students and staff is to close the campus," the school posted to its website yesterday. "We do feel that this threat was specific to CHS and that there is no reason to close any of our other schools. However, we have asked our partners at the Clayton Police Department to have an increased presence at all of our schools today. We will update you once we have additional information."

Officials now say the threat was directed toward another CHS, Clovis High School in New Mexico. The image was reposted by a Clayton High School student, and though the school superintendent Sean Doherty said the district is still investigating exactly why the student chose to repost the image, police say there was never a direct threat to Clayton High School.

Indeed, many other schools with the initials CHS were also on alert yesterday, including Christiana High School in Delaware, Coronado High in New Mexico, Cocoa High School in Florida and others.

Students At Clayton High School participated in a national school walkout last month to call for stricter gun laws and safer schools.

Three schools and an administration building were also placed on lockdown in University City Monday afternoon after police received a phone call they thought originated from the school district declaring an active shooter at Brittany Woods Middle School.

The lockdown lasted only about 20 minutes, and police responded quickly, witnesses said. "We appreciate the rapid response of our police department who responded via normal active shooter protocol," Lori Willis, the district's director of development, told Patch.

Police have not said who placed the call or why. A spokesperson for the University City Police Department said the incident is still under investigation.

Photo by J. Ryne Danielson/Patch