TikTok School Shooting/Bombing Threats Put Schools On Alert

ACROSS AMERICA — Schools across the country added more security and local police departments beefed up patrols Friday in response to rumors of vague threats on the social media platform TikTok of school shootings and other violence.

School districts in multiple states notified parents Thursday of the posts circulating on TikTok, saying they had no information to suggest the rumors of threats were credible, and that their intent was to inform and not alarm. The origin of the threats remains unknown.

TikTok said in a statement on Twitter that it is working with law enforcement to investigate the posts.

“We handle even rumored threats with utmost seriousness,” the statement said, “which is why we’re working with law enforcement to look into warnings about potential violence at schools even though we have not found evidence of such threats originating or spreading via TikTok.”

Instead, the company said all it had found were videos discussing the rumored threats and "warning others to stay safe."

The TikTok challenge comes on the heels of the ninth anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and the Michigan school shooting on Nov. 30 that killed four students and injured six other students and a teacher.

None of the rumored threats had materialized as of midday Friday, and school officials across the country lamented the disruption it had caused.

Several schools in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, have received threats in recent weeks, including in the Central Bucks, Bristol, and Bensalem school districts.

"As we experienced just a few short weeks ago when threats were made at Central Bucks High School South, incidents of this nature divert critical community resources, and are deeply disruptive to the instructional environment; additionally, they harm the emotional well-being of our students, faculty, and staff," Abram Lucabaugh, superintendent of Central Bucks, wrote.

Even when threats are found not to be credible, their proliferation has a psychological impact.

"We also encourage you to speak with your child if they are experiencing anxiety about this trend or other recent occurrences of violence in schools," Lentz wrote. "If you would like additional resources to help facilitate these conversations or your child would benefit from additional support, please reach out to your building guidance counselors."

Many U.S. schools took the precautionary step of canceling classes Friday, which the social media posts called a “national school shooting day.”

Parents of students in several Connecticut schools were notified Thursday night that classes would be canceled after district officials learned of a Snapchat post that reportedly made a threat at a Norwich school and included “a picture of what appeared to be a handgun.”

Several Wisconsin schools closed as well. Paul Mielke, the superintendent in the Hamilton School District, which serves the Sussex area, said school would be closed Friday because law enforcement agencies couldn't guarantee that threats made to the school online were "not credible."

Police were more visible Friday on the school campuses in Cherry Hills, New Jersey, where public school Superintendent Joseph Meloche said administrators, school resource officers and other staff worked with local police "each step of the way" as concerns surfaced regarding the challenge.

The New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness said in a statement the rumored threats appear to be groundless but "are being reviewed, assessed and shared wtih appropriate law enforcement entities throughout the state."

School officials in the Fort Bend Independent School District near Houston, Texas, told students to leave their backpacks at home Friday.

"We are taking this action in the wake of several social media sites challenging students nationwide to threaten their schools. This issue is far beyond just Fort Bend ISD," the district said in a statement. "We want you to know that over the past several days our Fort Bend ISD police officers have investigated social media allegations and rumors that individuals would cause harm on our campuses. Our investigators have been very successful locating individuals responsible for the posts. Please know that consequences will be significant and will include any and all applicable criminal charges."

Some school officials and police authorities signaled their weariness with what could well turn out to be a hoax.

In Georgia, Fulton County School Superintendent Mike Looney said the district "does not and will not tolerate threats or weapons on our school campus."

"We investigate all reports of threats and weapons and always take swift action utilizing our FCS Student Code of Conduct," Looney said.

Rumors of threats to Illinois schools over the past several weeks led to the arrest of multiple students.

In one of the latest incidents, a school in Evanston, Illinois, was placed on lockdown Thursday after two guns were found on the campus. Vernon Hills High School was also on a soft lockdown Thursday after a TikTok threat was made against the campus on Wednesday night. Parents were told they could pick their students up early for an excused absence, but school officials and police said the threat was found not to be credible.

In other Illinois schools, numerous bomb threats were sent to schools in Oak Lawn, resulting in several arrests. In Naperville, two teen boys ages 15 and 16 now face felony disorderly conduct charges in connection with a threat made against Naperville Central High School in October. Naperville North High School was also closed for a day in September after a bomb threat was made, and the campus was evacuated in October following another threat.

In Joliet, Illinois, school officials admonished parents to "talk about the importance of reporting threats and the consequences related to making threats.”

“We ask parents to take a moment to discuss the topic of school threats with their student and pledge as a family to both report threats to the proper authorities and refrain from sharing rumored threats and unverified information with others," officials said.

Several Joliet schools were on alert Friday.

Joliet District 204 director of community and alumni relations Kristine Schlismann replied to Joliet Patch in an email that "out of an abundance of caution, there will be an additional police presence tomorrow at both campuses, and we will conduct additional searches."

School violence has trended upward in the months since in-person classes resumed last fall after pandemic lockdowns in the 2020-21 school year. The recent deadly school shooting in Michigan was the 21st school shooting since August and the 29th in all of 2021.

Mark Bryant, the executive director of the Gun Violence Archive, told the Detroit Free Press he expects more school shootings as things get back to normal.

"It reflects the growing patterns that we're seeing with adults: more guns available, more guns not secured, more guns sold on the streets and that equals more shootings," he said.