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December 17, 2021
Authorities, school district respond to social media challenge
By Jessica Nohealapa’ahi
The Bandera Prophet
A nationwide threat hit home this morning when authorities feared a social media “challenge” may have posed a real threat for students of Bandera ISD.
A former BISD student posted online today that he had a gun and was “going to shoot a bunch of kids in a ‘riot proofed’ school.” The post reached authorities’ attention, who were already on high alert due to an apparent TikTok trend for everyone to stay home from school. The trend reportedly evolved into people talking about creating school shootings and bomb threats across the country, according to Today.com.
“It turned out not to be a real threat because the guy wasn’t even here,” Bandera County Chief Deputy Matt King said. “He used to go to school here, but now he lives in another part of the state.”
King said law enforcement located the man and questioned him, and determined there was no credible threat.
“He made idle comments on a social media site, which happens a lot, sadly,” King said.
All BISD campuses went into Lock Out mode - preventing any visitors - for a portion of the morning until the threat was cleared, and law enforcement officers remained on post until the end of the school day.
“They stayed there out of an abundance of caution,” King said. “It’s never a bad idea to be too safe.”
A former BISD student posted online today that he had a gun and was “going to shoot a bunch of kids in a ‘riot proofed’ school.” The post reached authorities’ attention, who were already on high alert due to an apparent TikTok trend for everyone to stay home from school. The trend reportedly evolved into people talking about creating school shootings and bomb threats across the country, according to Today.com.
“It turned out not to be a real threat because the guy wasn’t even here,” Bandera County Chief Deputy Matt King said. “He used to go to school here, but now he lives in another part of the state.”
King said law enforcement located the man and questioned him, and determined there was no credible threat.
“He made idle comments on a social media site, which happens a lot, sadly,” King said.
All BISD campuses went into Lock Out mode - preventing any visitors - for a portion of the morning until the threat was cleared, and law enforcement officers remained on post until the end of the school day.
“They stayed there out of an abundance of caution,” King said. “It’s never a bad idea to be too safe.”