2nd shooting threat this week against KCK school district being investigated
The Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools was investigating again on Tuesday another social media post threatening to shoot several district schools.
District officials sent letters to families and school principals Tuesday afternoon informing them that students at Bishop Ward High School saw the anonymous message and informed a teacher at the school.
The threat allegedly targeted four area high schools: Wyandotte, Schlagle, Harmon and Bishop Ward, according to the letter.
The letter said the district had not been able to determine the legitimacy of the threat.
“We will continue to remain vigilant in our efforts to find out the legitimacy of these social media posts and their source,” the letter said.
The school district has deployed extra officers at the schools listed in the threat, said Sharita Hutton, director of communications and marketing for Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools.
This is the second threat this week against a high school in the district.
A threat warning of a possible shooting Monday at Wyandotte High School was posted Sunday on social media, putting the district on alert.
In the letter sent to school staff and family on Tuesday, the district said it was with its police department as well as Kansas City, Kansas, police to determine whether the most recent threat to the four district high schools was merely “one of the duplicate postings shared previously” or a new threat.
The district learned of the initial threat to “shoot up Wyandotte High School” on Sunday, according to a letter from Wyandotte High School’s principal Mary Stewart that was sent to families.
The threats are similar to other threats that other districts in the Kansas City metro area have been having to deal with lately, Hutton said. The district is working closely with authorities to determine if they are credible and who is responsible for making them.
“We have notified our students and families about the threats and that we’re taking them seriously,” she said.
Last week, police and district officials investigated threats of violence written in restrooms at Blue Springs South High School.
The first threat was found scrawled a bathroom of the high school at 1200 S.E. Adams Dairy Parkway on Tuesday. The second threat was found Thursday in another bathroom.
The student responsible for the second threat had been identified, according to a letter principal Ryan Gettings sent to parents. The district’s department of public safety was working with Blue Springs police to investigate the threats.
Meanwhile in Independence, a Bridger Middle School student threatened over social media to bring a gun to school and harm a school staff member.
The student said in a threat, circulated over the social media app Snapchat, that they would bring a gun to school Friday
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