FBI Investigates Shooting Threat At Park Slope School

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN —The Park Slope private school Berkeley Carroll amped up security Tuesday morning after receiving a threat that dozens of students would be gunned down in a livestreamed attack on campus, Patch has learned.

A ninth grade student received an Omegle message on Monday — from a person who may or may not be a fellow student — promising to enter the Lincoln Place private school with an assault rifle and a pistol loaded with "hundreds of rounds of ammunition" and shoot up to 30 people, according to images reviewed by Patch.

"I'm going to shoot up my school," the message reads. "I'll play some music before I get to the school then blast dancin military style and abba...I hope to take atleast [sic] 15-30 people with me."

Berkeley Carroll's communication department did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment, but Patch received a couple of emails sent by Berkeley Carroll's head of school Lisa Yvette Waller alerting parents to the situation.

"Law enforcement has been notified, they have been to the school, and they are actively investigating this matter," Waller's email states. "Additionally, there is increased security presence near the school."

In an update several hours later she said that the FBI and NYPD Intelligence Bureau have been investigating the matter and "continue to advise against closing or locking down the school." Neither agency has responded to Patch's request for comments.

While many students are still at school, "a number of families have felt that they would prefer their children to be at home," Waller's email states.

"As a parent, this is a terrifying threat to receive," a concerned parent told Patch. "It immediately triggers soul-freezing memories of the Sandy Hook mass shooting."

The person who sent the message writes Berkeley Carroll is "my school" and names 11 people by name, but the identity of the messenger remains unclear.

The message promises a violent encounter with music blasting in the hallways and a livestream of the attack on an Instagram account featuring Cyrillic letters and a Russian username, the image shows.

Patch is redacting the name of the Instagram and all people mentioned in the message to protect the identity of students.

The Berkeley Carroll parent who contacted Patch is clutching to hopes the supposed shooter was just making an empty threat.

"I am seeking some solace in the alternative explanation: that this [person] is a Russian troublemaker following the Putin playbook of terrorizing America," the parent said. "And fueling our worst nightmares."