‘I wish they would stop’: False threats cause school closures across Wyoming

Shooting threats at multiple Wyoming schools, including Cheyenne, Gillette and Riverton, led to police lockdowns and searches on Monday.

Authorities said the threats were baseless.

Laramie County School District 1 placed east and south Hhey Sgoes into lockout mode around 8:06 a.m. on Monday.

Johnson and Carey Juniversity Hhey Schoola introduced “Ssafe“ that mode emerged minutes later, according to statements the district sent to parents and reporters.

A statement from the district said all safety protocols and lockdowns were lifted around 9:05 a.m.

The Cheyenne Police Department characterized the threats as a nationwide swatting incident.

“This particular threat appears to have been directed at at least three other schools across the county — Similar unsubstantiated calls are being made to schools across the country,” read a statement from the Cheyenne Police Department, which also said the agency had cleared both buildings and was working with the FBI to find AND suspicious. “Out of an abundance of caution, police presence will be increased in (East and South). Hhey Sschools).

The statement said Cheyenne’s threats came from a “third-party text.” CPD spokeswoman Alexandra Farkas confirmed via text message that the calls were coming through the crisis line, whose operator then contacted CPD’s dispatch center. She said the conversations did not appear to be related to the TikTok trend or viral interview.

Riverton High School went into in-person learning just before 9 a.m

Riverton Police Chief Eric Hurtado told the Cowboy State Daily that a woman calling the suicide hotline reported she was going to commit suicide after the shooting at Riverton High School.

But when school resource officers checked the woman’s name against student rolls, they discovered she was not a student there.. Police searched the school and yet inspected all schools in the city, Hurtado said.

The suspension was lifted around 9:17 a.m I amand the school informed parents that “the threat was baseless and part of a statewide panic.”

Campbell County School District 1 also reported receiving threatening messages regarding Campbell County and Thunder Basin Hhey Schools, who turned to shelter-in-place protocols, County 17 reported.

Again, the threats were deemed not credible.

The boy who cried wolf

A rash of false school threats in Wyoming communities has happened before.

Laramie County District Attorney Sylvia Hackl hopes the recent resurgence of baseless threats at school has not made people numb enough to disregard actual threats at school.

“I think we need to take a serious look at this because it is very disruptive to our educational environment,” she said. “Does it happen so often that we might get to the point where we ignore the threat?, a bit like the boy who cried wolf?

Hackl said that if the case lands on her desk with enough evidence, she will take it to trial. Wyoming law criminalizes making terroristic threats, punishable by up to three years in prison.

This is exactly what happened last month when Fr An 18-year-old East High student was arrested on charges of threatening to shoot up the school. He was reportedly carrying a paper gun.

But Hackl said it may be time for federal authorities to look at federal regulations covering these types of activities, especially since then seems to be a national trend.

“I wish they (threats) would stop. Because the threat — Certainly, none of us wants this threat to turn into reality — but what is the meaning of these threats?” she said. “They just disrupt everything, and if anyone thinks they’re funny: they’re not.”

Clair McFarland you can arrive at [email protected].