ST. GEORGE — What started as a prank by a student in Texas has spread the potential of fear into schools locally and throughout Utah. And officials say people should look less to social media and more to law enforcement as protection for the community’s students.
The Utah Department of Public Safety has issued a bulletin saying that a threat spreading through social media is not credible. Nevertheless, local school resource officers were put on alert with an extra presence dispatched to Hurricane High.
“We are aware of a school violence hoax threat circulating through social media,” states the bulletin, which was issued around 10:30 a.m. on Friday. “This originated in San Antonio yesterday. An unidentified individual has edited the hoax to fit Utah schools. Many continue to share this, and we are actively investigating the situation. However, there is no current indication of Utah school involvement, and we do not believe it to be credible at this time.”
Officials now say the post with the false threat came out of Herriman in Salt Lake County.
Steve Dunham, the communications director for the Washington County School District, told St. George News even a false threat can gain more power when people spread it without proof it is real.
“The biggest problem arises when people continue to spread these things on social media,” Dunham said. “Do not share them, simply notify the police. Our school resource officers are amazing and have been on top of this since it started.”
According to the San Antonio Express-News, a student in a Texas school district posted on social media that they were going to “open fire” at local high schools Friday. That student has since been arrested and, according to San Antonio Police, admitted to it being a hoax.
Even so, that false threat was changed by someone to fit Utah schools. That false threat has, in turn, been spreading on social media circles. The Utah department said it has been working through the morning with local and out-of-state law enforcement to “assess the situation.”
Sgt. Jared Carson, the supervisor of the St. George Police school resource officer program, said his teams were able to mobilize quickly Friday morning because while the rumor was spreading on social media, someone did call into police.
“It was called into our dispatch center this morning,” Carson told St. George News. “I was aware and so were the SROs (school resource officers).”
Carson said there were additional officers sent specifically to Hurricane High School.
“It was due to how the post came across,” Carson said. “It had Hurricane High School linked to it.”
Police said an additional police presence at Snow Canyon High School Friday morning was for an unrelated “mischief” matter.
Carson said when a threat is called in, an investigation is started immediately into the credibility of the threat and then, if necessary, action is taken. He added that threats are “fairly rare but they do happen.”
Dunham reiterated that while threats shouldn’t be ignored, the first people to inform shouldn’t be a friend on Facebook, but the local police.
“Social media is full of lies and misinformation. Don’t let those falsehoods ruin what we do in our community,” Dunham said. “Trust in our police departments, not in social media.”
Update 12:15 p.m., Sept. 15, 2023: Additional info from police on presence at Hurricane High, source of social media post.
St. George News reporter Mori Kessler contributed to this article.
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