The St. Louis region has seen a surge of school threats in recent weeks after four people were killed and others hospitalized in a mass shooting at the Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia.
Since then, a rise in hoax threats has occurred all over the country — in the St. Louis region, dozens of online shooting and bomb threats have led various schools to cancel classes or hold them virtually, including the Ritenour School District, Centralia Junior High School in Centralia, Illinois, and St. Louis Public Schools.
“Hoax threats are not a joke,” said FBI St. Louis Special Agent in Charge Ashley T. Johnson during a press conference at the agency's St. Louis office Friday. “Don’t think you can hide. We will find you and hold you accountable.”
Johnson noted that the region saw a similar spike in 2022 after the shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis. Johnson was appointed to her position earlier this month. She previously served as section chief of the International Operations Division at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C.
FBI officials in St. Louis declined to give a specific number but said a significant amount of law enforcement and school resources are being put into investigating threats that are needed elsewhere.
According to Courage2Report, a Missouri statewide school safety initiative, there have been 125 reported school violence tips between July and September. There were 137 tips in all of 2023.
Greg Wagener, coordinator of Student Discipline and Alternative Student Programs at Parkway Schools, said one of its elementary schools had a bomb threat this week.
“While we have had threats this year, no threat has ever been credible,” Wagener said. “The threats do result in discipline because we have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to internal threats made by our students.”
Chairman of the St. Louis Area Police Chiefs Association and Florissant Police Chief Timothy Fagan on Friday advised people not to reshare or post screenshots of the threats online.
He said the threats are traumatizing the students, families and school staff.
“Sharing on social media becomes an out-of-control thing, and it's hard for us to wade through that,” Fagan said. “I would say that most, if not all, school districts are going to disseminate that information, and that's certainly a better platform than just everyone reposting on social media and getting that information out there. It really dilutes the investigation, and it just takes a lot of time to wade through that.”
Ritenour Superintendent Chris Kilbride said after Tuesday’s incident that the community is tired.
“I hear each day the level of concern that people have for their children as they come to school,” Kilbride said. “I just wonder, at what point can we all commit to having a better reality for our students.”
Charges filed
Traci Thompson, of Hazelwood, and Terry Thompson, of Glasgow Village, were both charged with tampering with physical evidence in a felony prosecution on Thursday. They’re the parents of the former Ritenour student who was charged with making online terroristic threats, resisting arrest and gun charges after online threats were made against Ritenour High School earlier this week.
Court records show that between Sept. 17 and 19, they tried to hide a backpack that contained ammunition so that it wouldn’t be available in the criminal investigation of their child, whose identity remains concealed because they are a minor. The juvenile was found with a loaded gun, police said, and arrested Tuesday a block away from Husky Academy in Overland less than 30 minutes after school and police officials received a tip about an online shooting threat.
On Sept. 11, the Centralia, Illinois, Police Department took an 11-year-old girl into custody after a threat to harm anyone who went to Centralia Junior High School in Centralia. Police arrested another juvenile in East St. Louis on Wednesday in connection with a threat against the high school there, but there was no indication either person intended to act on those threats.
FBI officials said Friday that minors suspected of making hoax threats are suspended from school while an investigation is being conducted. They could face a suspension of up to 180 days or expulsion from school entirely.
“In these cases, juvenile authorities are always going to err on the side of caution when it comes to juveniles, and they're going to detain them in custody when threats are made,” Fagan said. This means when juveniles choose to make a school threat and are taken into custody by law enforcement, they will not be going home at the end of the day, he said.
“Making a school threat is a very serious violation of the law, and there are consequences that result from that threat,” Fagan added. “Consequences vary, but they can include things such as being placed under court supervision. This is very similar to probation or parole in the state court system. This often includes GPS monitoring of the juvenile court. Juveniles can be removed from their home and placed into full-time custody.”
If the situation warrants it, juveniles can be certified to stand trial as an adult, Fagan said.
Police said adults can be sentenced to up to five years in prison for making a hoax threat. If someone is injured, that sentence goes up to 20 years, and if death occurs, a life sentence could ensue.
Law enforcement officials encourage anyone who hears or sees a threat to call 911 or contact Missouri’s online school safety threat reporting system Courage2Report, or by calling 866-748-7047 or texting C2R to 738477. In Illinois, people can report threats through the Safe 2 Help tip line. Concerns can be reported via phone, text, web, email or mobile app.
