Police UPDATE: ‘West High’ School Shooting Threat Not West Aurora High School
The Aurora Police Department posted on Facebook this morning (Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018) that social-media posts threatening a shooting at “West High” do not appear to be related to the West Aurora High School campus at 1201 W. New York St.
Aurora police are alerting the community that a widely seen social media threat to “West High” is NOT related to West Aurora High School.
“We have been investigating its veracity, and it appears this is NOT West High in Aurora,” said Aurora Police Department spokesperson Dan Ferrelli on the APD Facebook page. “Please be assured that we will continue to look into it and have extra resources assigned to West Aurora High School today.
The social media posts follow a pattern of copycat threats around the country following the massacre at a South Florida high school.
ABC news reports that similar threats on social media led at least one school district to close schools Friday.
The district in Nutley, NJ, closed public schools and canceled all evening events after officials “became aware of a security threat” late Thursday night, according to a statement by Superintendent Julie Glazer.
A quick Internet search of “West High school threat” shows news reports of school threats across the U.S., from Jeffco High School in Denver, CO, to Traverse City West High School in Traverse City, MI.
Closer to home, the Chicago Tribune reports that Niles North High School in Skokie was evacuated Wednesday following a bomb threat.Students were bused to nearby Niles West to end the school day, and the Cook County Sheriff’s Department bomb squad was on the scene with Skokie police at Niles North late Wednesday afternoon.
On Friday, the APD posted on Facebook that a new social media post on Thursday night threatened a shooting at West Aurora High School. An investigation showed that the threat was NOT credible, and police are seeking to prosecute the person or persons who made the post.
