Columbus police are investigating the identity of a person who made an alleged school threat on social media.
A Northside Middle School student received a FaceTime phone call via Snapchat on Wednesday night from a person who said in vague terms that harm would come to people at school, said Josh Burnett, Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. communications director.
The Northside student told the caller that he didn’t know who the student was, or which school he attended, Burnett said, and that the caller replied that it didn’t matter and the caller would find out.
“It was a vague threat of harm to people at a school that was not specific to Northside. There was nothing about Northside, Columbus or a middle school,” Burnett said.
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Columbus police were contacted soon after and met with the student to gather information about the incident, said Lt. Matt Harris, Columbus Police Department spokesman.
School officials were notified early Thursday morning about the incident, and school resource officers Eric Stevens and Julie Quesenbery were assigned to investigate, Harris said. Stevens is assigned to North High School and Northside Middle School, and Quesenbery to East High School and Central Middle School.
Police determined that no threat existed, and the district sent an e-alert to Northside parents about 9:30 a.m. Thursday informing them of the situation and that everything was OK, Burnett said.
The e-alert said, “All is OK at Northside. A student reported a social media threat last night that did not specify a city or school. SROs (school resource officers) are aware.”
Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. Superintendent Jim Roberts said it was a random person making a random threat to a random school.
“We feel confident it was not a real threat to Columbus or one of our schools, particularly Northside,” Roberts said.
The identity of the person who sent the threat isn’t known yet. The caller, whose voice sounded like a male’s, hid his appearance during the call, Harris said.
Police have contacted Snapchat to request additional information that could help them learn the identity of the person who made the alleged threat, Harris said.
Roberts said the incident is another opportunity to have a conversation with students about the use of social media, such as how public one’s settings are for the various platforms.
“The use of social media can lead to all kinds of things,” the superintendent said.
Wednesday’s reported threat is the eighth school-related threat at area schools since February 2018.
Last year, two threats were reported at Columbus North, two reported at Columbus East, two at Hauser High School in Hope and one at the Simon Youth Academy in Edinburgh. All but two of them occurred within a week of the Feb. 14, 2018, school shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people died.
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To subscribe to receive e-alerts from Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp., go online at bcsc.k12.in.us/Page/16874.
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