School shooting threats at multiple Wyoming schools, including in Cheyenne, Gillette and Riverton, prompted lockdowns and police searches Monday.
The threats were unfounded, authorities have said.
Laramie County School District 1 placed East and South high schools into lockdown mode at about 8:06 a.m. Monday.
Johnson and Carey junior high schools were placed into “secure” mode minutes later, according to statements the district sent to parents and reporters.
All secure and lockdown protocols were lifted at about 9:05 a.m., the district’s statement says.
Cheyenne Police Department described the threats as a nationwide swatting incident.
“It appears that this particular threat has been made to at least three other schools across the county — and similar unsubstantiated calls are being made to schools throughout the nation,” says a statement from the Cheyenne Police Department, which also says the agency cleared both buildings and is coordinating with the FBI to find a suspect. “Out of an abundance of caution, there will be an increased police presence at (East and South high schools).”
Cheyenne’s threats came from a “third-party text line,” says the statement. CPD spokeswoman Alexandra Farkas confirmed via text message that the calls came through a crisis line, whose attendant then contacted CPD's dispatch center. She said the calls don't appear to be associated with a TikTok trend or viral interview.
Riverton High School went into stay-put mode just before 9 a.m.
Riverton Police Chief Eric Hurtado told Cowboy State Daily that a female calling a suicide hotline service reported she was going to kill herself after shooting up Riverton High School.
But when school resource officers cross-checked the female’s reported name with the school rosters, they found that she’s not a student there. Police searched the school and inspected every school in the town anyway, said Hurtado.
The stay-put was lifted around 9:17 a.m., with the school informing parents “the threat was unfounded and was part of a statewide scare.”
Campbell County School District 1 also reported receiving a threatening message concerning Campbell County and Thunder Basin high schools, which turned to sheltering in place protocols, County17 reported.
Again, the threats were found non-credible.
Boy Who Cried Wolf
The rash of false school threats in Wyoming communities has happened before.
Laramie County District Attorney Sylvia Hackl hopes the recent recurrence of unfounded school threats doesn’t make people numb enough to disregard real school threats.
“I think we need to take a serious look at this, because it is so disruptive to our educational environment,” she said. “Is this happening so frequently that we might get to the point that we disregard the threat, kind of like the boy who cried wolf?”
Hackl said if the case lands on her desk with enough evidence, she’ll take it to court. Wyoming law makes terroristic threats a felony punishable by up to three years in prison.
That's what happened last month when an 18-year-old East High student was arrested on suspicion of making a threat to shoot up the school. He reportely had a paper gun.
But Hackl said it may also be time for federal authorities to look at federal laws encompassing these kinds of actions, especially since it appears to be a national trend.
“I wish they (the threats) would stop. Because a threat — certainly none of us want the threat to be turned into a reality — but what’s the point of the threats?” she said. “They just disrupt everything, and to the extent somebody thinks they’re funny: they’re not.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
