Student Arrested for Threats of Violence on Twitter

Edmond, OK

A student at Santa Fe High School was arrested after the National Sentinel Program, a national watchdog group that monitors social media, reported a suspicious post to officials in Edmond.

The student allegedly tweeted  “I’m gonna shoot up the school if I fail the EOI,” and “I wanna tell my kids that I survived a school shooting and seem like a bad*** (expletive). So some white kid better shoot up the school or I will.”  The police investigated and decided the threats were not serious.

Analysis
Chapter 5 of Staying Alive covers warning signs of violence in both adults and children.  While schools must take all such threats seriously, a robust threat assessment process, including the use of multi-disciplinary threat assessment teams.