The Paso Robles Police Department says it’s working with school district officials to hold accountable the students who created a Snapchat post that prompted fears over a school threat.
Police say the post was sent via cell phone to several Paso Robles High School students over the weekend. It contained a photo of an AR-15 rifle and read, “Don’t go to school, there’s a school threat.”
Police say there was no real threat.
Investigators reportedly determined that the post originated from three students who were playing Fortnite and the photo of the gun was a screenshot captured from the internet.
Police say none of the students has access to an AR-15. They say the teens did not intend for the post to be shared beyond the three of them.
Investigators say they’ve interviewed all three teens and their parents and have been working closely with the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District throughout the investigation.
The school district posted the following statement on its Facebook page early Monday morning:
“Late on Sunday night we were informed of a social media post (snapchat via student’s phone) that had a picture of a weapon with a written threat. Local authorities were contacted immediately and all parties took swift action. They investigated and determined the necessary next steps to ensure the safety of our schools and community. Local authorities located the individual responsible and investigated their actions/social media post.
We are able to maintain our regular school day today, February 25, 2019.
Our first priority is always student and staff safety and we will continue to work in partnership with our local authorities to ensure that students are safe. All parties responded quickly, and we are confident in our plans moving forward to address student, staff and parent concerns.
While every student at Paso Robles High School receives cyber-safety education, it does remind us of the importance for us as parents and educators to talk to our students about the significance of their “posts.” Both the school and local authorities are taking every social media post very seriously and we will follow through with disciplinary/legal consequences.”
