Snapchat threat locks down PHS
PARADISE >> A social media threat that Paradise Junior-Senior High School would be the site of a school shooting Friday morning has led to the school being in lockdown, according to Paradise Unified School District Executive Assistant Sheila Craft.
Craft said that the district became aware of the threat through Snapchat saying the school would be shot up on Monday. But later in that thread, another student that there was no school that day because of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Supt. Tom Taylor said on Friday afternoon that they don’t think the threat was made by a local student. According to Taylor, the threat started with an inappropriate request of the minors, then led to the person stating that they should watch out because they would shoot up the school on Monday. The students responded that we did not have school on Monday. The person then said watch out on Friday. Once again the conversation took place last Saturday when principal Larry Johnson learned Friday morning and the school went on immediate lockdown. Police were called to the site and started the investigation.
PUSD says that the initial investigations from the Paradise Police Department and Butte County Sheriff Office technology crime department give no indication that there is a reason to suspect a student.
“It is quite possible that this was someone phishing for inappropriate information, Taylor said. “The lockdown was lifted because the investigation indicated there was not a safety concern for students and staff. Paradise Police Department and Butte County Sheriff Office is continuing to track down the phone number and location of the individual who was communicating with the young girls.”
The lockdown was lifted by about 11:50 a.m.
“He and the police have been there ever since,” Craft said. She didn’t have an exact time of the shutdown but she did confirm that the lockdown is unrelated to a social media report that an arrest that was made Dutch Bros! coffee stand on the Skyway in Paradise.
The school’s principal, Larry Johnson, wrote in a release:
The lockdown was lifted by about 11:50 a.m.
PUSD also posted a Facebook message on Friday afternoon saying the information on the threat was brought to them by several students. The district said Paradise Police Department, Butte County Sheriff’s Department, and Cal Fire arrived within minutes.
Paradise Police will be on campus all day, but the Paradise varsity girls basketball game at home against Orland was canceled at Orland’s request.