Shooting-threat tweet sends police on alert; school steps up security

“I tell my kids, ‘You run for your lives. You run in a zigzag. But I can’t tell them that if they’re ina classroom. It’s scary.” —Monica Gomez

SAN JOSE » The Alum Rock Union School District community found itself bracing for the worst after an apparent threat to “shoot up” its campuses surfaced on Twitter, and as Thursday unfolded, other districts reported similar occurrences.

“You guys look so innocent and say you have a no bully zone but you literally make me want to shoot up your (expletive) schools,” the post stated in part.

“Within the last 24 hours, we have received what we have deemed to be (a) threat against the Alum Rock Union School District,” she said. “Although we cannot confirmthe credibility of the threat, we are treating it as serious and have contacted the San Jose Police Department.”

San Jose police sent out a statement Thursday morning saying “there is no specific threat at this time,” and that officers are on alert around the district’s campuses.

“However, this is an active, ongoing investigation and our detectives are attempting to identify the person responsible,” police said.

The Oak Grove School District also reported it has been the target of social- media threats in an online alert to parents, and acknowledged “similar threats targeting various other districts in our county.”

“We have received reports that through socialmedia Oak Grove District schools have been targeted for possible violent act,” the alert reads. “We have contacted the San Jose Police Department and determined these threats are unfounded.”

Meanwhile, at and around Alum Rock schools, additional officers were on patrol, and school liaison officers were making frequent check-ins, police said.

St. John Vianney School, a Catholic school that resides within the district’s footprint, canceled classes Thursday as a precaution. Principal Anthony

Barajas sent an online note to parents initially stating the decision was made at the behest of both school administrators and SJPD, but later retracted the claim that police ordered the closure.

“It was a site based de- cision to close SJV today,” Barajas said in his posting.

Monica Gomez, whose three children attend Adelante Academy in the Alum Rock district, said a district official left a voice mail for her explaining the situation.

“My kids were asking, ‘ Oh no, what does this mean? Are we going to die? What if there is a shooter? What are we supposed to do?’ And I don’t know if my kids really know what to do. I don’t think there has been enough active shooter training with the kids,” said Gomez, 45.

“I tell my kids, ‘ You run for your lives. You run in a zigzag,'” she continued. “But I can’t tell them that if they’re in a classroom. It’s scary. I think every- one is on heightened alert right now and my children are always looking over their shoulder. It just worries me.”

“I watched all the videos of the parents talking about their children that had passed,” said Martinez, 20. “I would never want my niece to be gone just for going to school. I send my niece to school eight hours a day to get an education and to learn, not to fight for her life.”

In her letter, Bauer said the district has filed a complaint with Twitter “requesting they take appropriate steps to investigate the statement made on their platform.” An earlier tweet made from the same account expressed a wish to see a school shooting top 100 victims.

Bauer insisted stu- dents are safe at district schools.

“I want to be very clear in stating that your children are safe, as we have activated the appropriate protocols for this type of threat,” she said.

Gomez said she had no choice but to believe Bauer.