After schools closed for a day, police say Thorndale threat was a hoax
A threat made against the Thorndale school district that resulted in all classes being canceled Wednesday was a hoax, police said.
The threat made on social media Tuesday night warned students not to go to school because something bad was going to happen, said Thorndale Police Chief Scott Roberson. He said police on Wednesday found the person who made the threat, adding that person was not a student in the school district. He said police are going to pursue a charge against the suspect, but declined to provide further details about the person.
"I don't think when people do this they realize that saying such things can lead to such things like schools being shut down and multiple agencies being called out," Roberson said.
The school district canceled all classes around 5 a.m. Wednesday because law enforcement authorities did not yet know who had made the threat or whether the threat could be carried out, said Thorndale Superintendent Adam Ivy said
"We have never received anything quite like this on social media," said Ivy. He said investigators usually are able to find out quickly who has made a threat.
Roberson said the threat was not related to other threats that school districts in the state, including Austin, Pflugerville, Houston and Waco, received Tuesday.
Austin police received a report of a shooter on the Connally High School campus in the Pflugerville school district shortly after noon Tuesday, according to a letter the principal sent to parents. Austin and school district police determined the report was false after searching the campus, the letter said. It said students remained in their classrooms during the search.
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"Our police are still investigating, but at this time it appears to be similar to other reports around Texas," Pflugerville district spokeswoman Tamra Spence said Wednesday about the false report.
Cedar Creek Elementary in the Eanes school district in West Austin received an anonymous phone call with a “vague threat” that turned out to be false during school hours Tuesday, according to the district’s website. School continued while students and staff were instructed to stay in their classrooms at the elementary school, the district said.
Students and staff at the nearby Hill Country Middle School and the Adult Transition Services building also were instructed to stay in their classes as a precaution, district spokeswoman Claudia McWhorter said Wednesday.
“We understand there were more than a dozen similar anonymous threats to schools throughout the state yesterday, of which none were deemed credible,” she said.
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Local law enforcement in Houston responded to a hoax call Tuesday saying 10 people had been shot in a classroom at Heights High School, according to the Houston Chronicle.
In Waco, police on Tuesday responded to what turned out to be a false call about a shooter and students injured at Waco High School, according to the Waco-Tribune Herald.
Ivy said the Thorndaleincident started Tuesday night when a student started receiving anonymous threats on Snapchat and reported it to their parents, who then alerted the school district.
Both Roberson and Ivy said canceling classes on Wednesday was the right thing to do. "We wouldn't just say 'Don't worry about it and just go to school,'" said Roberson.
He said it wasn't just the Uvalde school shootings in May in which 21 people died that made authorities decide to close classes. "It's the totality of everything that's been going on with schools," Roberson said. "Everyone wants to play it safe. Better safe than sorry."
Ivy said the district made "the right call" when it canceled classes Wednesday.
"We spent a lot of hours talking about what to do," he said. "We didn't feel comfortable taking a chance with the lives of our students and staff. I have had nothing but positive comments from our community all day today."
About 615 students attend the district's elementary, middle and high school, he said. Ten percent of the district is in eastern Williamson County, and the rest is in Milam County.
Classes in the Thorndale district will resume Thursday, said Ivy. He said the district does not have school resource officers but has a guardian program in which some members of the staff at each school are armed and trained to respond to threats. The program has been in place for four years, he said.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: After schools closed for a day, police say Thorndale threat was a hoax
