Schools in Phoenix on alert after social media threats;Police has arrested three local teens in connection with threats on social media targeting high schools in Phoenix. Several others are under investigation.
Two boys of 14 years and a girl of 15 years have been apprehended by the police. All of them lived in Phoenix and attended schools there. The police departments released a statement in which it said that all three were arrested on felony charges for posting social media threats.
The drama started with the first social media threat targeting Carl T. Hayden Community High School in Phoenix. The officials of the school let it be known to the parents. They also simultaneously asked the police for help.
The news of the threat was quickly spread over the internet. Moreover, different versions of the threat also appeared on social media.
Many accounts on the Facebook copied these threats or posted them at new schools. The threats were, in certain cases, accompanied by warnings about not to come to school. In some cases pictures of peculiar clowns were also posted.
Most of the online conversation regarding these social media threats revolves around murder and shouts. It has made it very difficult to come to know what the initial threat was. There are allegations by the police that many of the threats may have been digitally altered on purpose.
Fortunately, these threats were mostly ignored by people. However, these social media threats constituted a disruption to the local school system. In some schools, pupils did not attend classes because of the weird threats. The police announced that it was taking all these threats seriously and was investigating each one of them.
As soon as the schools came to know about these threats, they alerted parents through emails and telephone. They were also assured that no disruption in education had taken place. However, many of the unfazed parents brought their children home from school.
The police stated that a threat of violence is always serious and requires resources for analysis and investigation. Moreover, the target audience did not show any signs of emotional distress.
The counter terrorism information center of Arizona also became involved in the social media threats investigation. The police further stated that the students who had been arrested in this regard would face disciplinary action from the school.
