4 Lewisville ISD students arrested for making school threats
Police: Fake school threats have real consequences
Police across North Texas are seeing a rise in school threats. It's causing problems at several schools and even prompted one local school district to close for the day. Officer Jimmy Pollozani from the Fort Worth Police Department explains that fake threats can lead to serious consequences for those responsible.
LEWISVILLE, Texas - Four Lewisville Independent School District students are facing charges for allegedly posting school threats in an attempt to get out of class, police said.
The threats were made on Thursday against Huffines Middle School.
Lewisville police said they quickly recognized the posts as "duplicates or recycled posts from other threatening posts that have been seen across the Metroplex and the state this week and last week."
Investigators still took them seriously and identified four juveniles who are believed to be responsible.
"We want to ensure the public knows this threat was a fake post, purposely designed to create a reaction and intended to have the suspects avoid attending school on Friday," the police department said in a news release. "There is NO CREDIBLE threat stemming from this post."
The police department said it doesn’t matter if the posts are real or a joke. They are all investigated, and ultimately, the person responsible faces stiff legal consequences, as well as disciplinary action according to the school district’s student code of conduct.
Fake online threats causing real problems across North Texas schools
Police tell FOX 4 the threats are mostly fake, copied and pasted from similar threats. However, it’s enough to keep campuses on alert. They say it's a growing trend sweeping across North Texas and the state.
"LPD will take a zero-tolerance stance when it comes to any activity that disrupts students’ ability to learn or places them in fear. We are not joking," the department said.
The suspects in this case were booked into the Juvenile Detention Center in Denton and charged with making a terroristic threat.
Their names and photos are not being released because they are minors.