3 local schools are among those receiving social media threats,

Franklin Regional student was arrested

At least three local school districts — Franklin Regional, Gateway and Mt. Lebanon — were dealing with threats Friday following a fatal school shooting this week in Florida.

A wave of social media threats, many on Snapchat, are spreading across the country in the wake of the Florida shooting, in which 17 people died. Most of the threats appear to be hoaxes, but they have schools and law enforcement on high alert.

One of the posts, reported in South Carolina, showed a student wearing a partial mask and holding what appeared to be an assault rifle, according to the Washington Post. Variations of the post warning students not to go to school appeared in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts and North Carolina.

The Franklin Regional School District, which serves Murrysville, Export, and portions of Delmont canceled classes Friday after a student posted a Snapchat video showing a gun. A student was arrested at a residence Friday morning, police said.

Franklin Regional captured national headlines in 2014 when a 16year-old student, Alex Hribal, slashed or stabbed 20 students and a security guard at the high school, using two kitchen knives from his home. Four students suffered lifethreatening injuries, but all survived.

Hribal pleaded guilty in October to 21 counts of attempted homicide and aggravated assault in the attack. He was sentenced to 23½ to 60 years and ordered to pay about $269,000 in restitution.

Families at Gateway High School in Monroeville were notified Friday morning of a “terroristic threat” that a student posted on social media.

Students found the threat online and reported it to school officials Friday morning, according to a letter that superintendent William Short sent to families. Gateway High School staff and school police detained the student and called Monroeville police, who removed the student from the building, the

letter said.

No “immediate threat” was found, according to the letter. District officials were not available for comment Friday.

At Jefferson Middle School in the Mt. Lebanon School District, students were leaving school at the end of the day Friday when a seventh-grader was overheard saying he was going to “shoot up the school,” according to superintendent Timothy Steinhauer. Students told the principal, and Mt. Lebanon police were contacted.

The police determined that no imminent threat exists but are continuing their investigation, Mr. Steinhauer said.

Also in Pennsylvania, Erie High School was on high alert Friday after receiving a threat on social media.