There is added security at Everman High School Thursday after a second threat was directed at the school within the last week.
According to the Everman ISD, the district was notified Wednesday night of a shooting threat circulating on social media that was directed at Everman High School.
Everman Police worked with the FBI and traced the threat to an Instagram user who they believe was the source of the threat. Officials have not said whether the threat originated locally or if any arrests have been made, but they did say they do not believe there is an ongoing or present threat to the campus.
Still, there is an increased police presence at the school as the investigation continues where at least a half dozen police vehicles were seen outside the building.
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Laneysha Bell left school early Thursday with her father.
“When I walked into school, there was basically no one at school. I thought everyone was just going to push it to the side,” Bell said, referring to the investigation. “I saw more and more text messages and everyone was like, we’re not going to school.”
Bell said while school district officials announced overnight there was no ongoing threat, it was the talk of the school. Teachers did their best to reassure students they were safe, she said.
“There were teachers sending out text messages, ‘Hey…if you want to eat in my classroom, you can.’ I feel like, that was a good thing,” she said. “That was important for teachers to do.”
Extra security was also spotted near the football where a threat of violence was thwarted last Friday night.
In that instance, someone told police that multiple people were headed to the homecoming game threatening to use a gun they'd obtained earlier in the day.
Police stopped a vehicle matching the description given and arrested two people in possession of an AR pistol and a high-capacity 60-round magazine. The two 18-year-olds who were arrested have been charged with multiple felonies.
Kathy Martinez-Prather, director of the Texas School Safety Center, said all threats must be treated equally. Social media plays a large role in school safety, she said.
“We know and we have two decades of research studying these cases. We know two things. Individuals who have created mass acts of violence in the school setting had a connection to the school in some way, and also told someone about what they were going to do prior to the event,” Martinez-Prather said. “Social media is extremely common platform in which these threats are often made and leaked and communicated. Sometimes they’re credible. Sometimes they’re not.”
So far there has been no indication that the new threats are in any way related to what took place last Friday.
Last October a juvenile Everman student was taken into custody after a vague threat directed toward the high school was received via a phone call. Investigators said the threat was deemed as not credible and there were no weapons involved.
