Students arrested after threats

Police investigate two incidents

FAYETTEVILLE — Two students in Northwest Arkansas have been arrested in connection with threatening online to shoot classmates.

A Fayetteville High School student was arrested Thursday after police said he posted on social media he wanted to “shoot the school up like they did in Florida.”

Police in Berryville said they arrested an eighth-grader Thursday after he threatened online to shoot classmates.

The incidents have parents on edge, several Northwest Arkansas school and police officials said. Some schools are beefing up police presence after 17 people died Wednesday in a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

“People can see that these threats that some students make truly can be carried out,” Berryville Superintendent Owen Powell said Friday. “All threats should be taken very seriously.”

Police didn’t identify the students who were arrested because they are younger than 18.

Since Wednesday, at least eight schools in Arkansas investigated what one expert called “copycat threats.”

“We see the same kind of issues after suicides or a particularly graphic suicide in a TV show,” said Joanna Thomas, a University of Arkansas professor who advocates for in-home gun safety.

Thomas said some threatening social media posts show children posing with guns they have easy access to in Arkansas homes.

“In Arkansas, there is no minimum age to possess a rifle or shotgun for children,” Thomas said.

Threats proliferated across social networks throughout the country.

In southeastern Massachusetts, a social media post warned local high school students of a “Florida pt 2.”

In South Carolina, a ninth-grader posted a photo of himself wearing a mask and holding what appeared to be an assault rifle. That picture was captioned, “Round 2 of Florida tomorrow,” according to police.

Copycat threats prompted school closings in Gilchrist County, Fla., and Nutley, N.J.; temporary lockdowns in Onslow County, N.C., and Avon, Conn.; and an investigation at a middle school outside Atlanta.

The Fayetteville student was arrested in connection with falsely communicating

a terrorist threat, a felony, police spokesman Anthony Murphy said.

The Berryville student was arrested in connection with felony terroristic threatening, Police Chief Robert Barton said.

In both cases, another student saw the posts and reported them to school staff.

Both boys face school disciplinary measures, school officials said.

In Fayetteville, police investigated and found “no credible threat to the high school,” according to a news release from the School District. School went on as normal

Friday, district spokesman Alan Wilbourn said.

The boy apparently thought he was being “glib” and making a joke, Wilbourn said. Police searched the boy’s home and found a rifle but no ammunition, Murphy said

The threat in Berryville seemed serious, Powell said. Students were scared and some parents pulled their children out of school, Barton said. More police and counselors were on the school campus Friday, officials said.

Even without threats, Bentonville police increased their presence at schools Friday, police spokesman Gene Page said. Two school districts — Rogers and Fort

Smith — investigated rumors that turned out to be unsubstantiated, spokesmen said.

Rogers Public Schools canceled a pep rally at Heritage High School, said Ashley Siwiec, district spokeswoman. She said police presence was increased at Rogers schools Friday, Siwiec said.

In general, Arkansas schools are safe, said Eric Huber, supervisor of safety and security at Fort Smith Public Schools. Huber is the past president of the Arkansas Safe Schools Association, a statewide, nonprofit organization dedicated to school safety.

Parents, students, school officials and police remain concerned, Barton said.

“Everybody’s fears are up, so it really just takes a little match to set everybody’s fears off,” he said.