TRENTON, Ohio — School shooting threats posted on social media forced schools to shut down and go on lockdown in Ohio, and now law enforcement is working to hold accountable those responsible and to keep future threats from happening.
What You Need To Know
- Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said there have been 19 recent school shooting threats that came from social media
- The threats were targeting schools across Butler County and Jones said arrests have been made
- School district leaders are urging parents to have conversations with their children and monitor their social media accounts
The recent threats came to light after a nationwide school shooting threat in December.
For Tammy Keller, sending her daughter to school is just not the same these days.
“I was terrified of my kids being there, no matter if it’s a fake threat or not, it’s still a threat,” said Keller.
School shooting threats posted on social media put two Edgewood schools on lockdown last week, and shut down the entire district earlier this month.
“It is really scary to have a child that’s at school who is scared and not knowing what’s going on,” said Keller.
Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said there were even more threats that recently closed or put schools on lockdown across the county.
“We’ve had 19 threats from TikTok, Instagram or Facebook — 34 school shootings nationwide,” said Jones. “Edgewood schools have had eight threats and disruptions, New Miami schools had two, Madison schools had two, Talawanda schools had one, Lakota schools had four, Union Day schools had two.”
After their investigation, Jones said the recent threats turned out not to be anything serious, but the students behind them are facing serious charges.
“Make no mistake about it, it’s a felony of the third degree,” said Jones. “It’s a serious charge. You’ll be kicked out of school, you’ll go to detention — not like detention where you go to your room — you’ll be incarcerated.”
Jones said arrests have been made for the recent threats and his department is working with school districts to come up with a plan to stop them.
No changes have been made so far at Edgewood schools, but the district did send a letter urging parents to talk to their kids.
Keller is taking it one step further. She gave each of her kids a smart watch and cell phone, blocked from social media, but not from her, just in case it goes beyond a school threat.
“It is strictly for her to get a hold of me,” said Keller. “so when they need to, they have all access to get a hold of me when it is needed.”
