At least six schools in Texas have received terroristic threats in the two days following the school shooting in Florida that killed 17 people. In two other incidents, students brought a weapon to school. In another, someone made a frightening 911 call saying a teacher had been shot.
17-year-old Jaquinn Alani Smith allegedly brought a firearm to Houston’s Can Academy. He was arrested on Thursday and charged with exhibiting a firearm at school, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Another Houston-area school, Klein Forest High School in Klein ISD, reported that police arrested 18-year-old LaQuina Washington after she allegedly threatened to “shoot up” the high school. Officials charged the student with exhibiting a firearm on school property. A Klein ISD official told the Houston newspaper that the teenager did not bring a gun to school.
The night before the massacre, authorities arrested 18-year-old Nicolas Nguyen after he exhibited a gun in the parking lot of Klein Forest High School. They charged him with exhibition of a firearm on school property, Click2Houston reported. He is facing disciplinary action from the school.
Two students in schools in Fort Bend County posted violent messages Friday on Snapchat, Fox 26 News reported. A 14-year-old used Snapchat to say he was going to shoot the school. A student who saw the Snapchat post notified their parents who then contacted school officials at the Billy Baines Middle School in Missouri City, Texas. A 15-year-old student made similar terrorizing claims directed at the Harmony Public School in Katy, Texas. The student also used Snapchat to communicate the two messages.
Fox 26 reported that one of the Snapchat threats made to the Harmony School showed students running away during the Valentine’s Day massacre at the high school in Parkland, Florida. The student allegedly said the same would occur to the seventh-grade students at Harmony. The second message included a link on how to conceal a weapon and bring it into a school. In January, the teen allegedly threatened to shoot students at the school. No one reported the threat.
The students in the Fort Bend County incidents are in custody at a juvenile detention facility. Both were charged with making a terroristic threat, a felony of the third degree.
Officials charged a 12-year-old boy in Atascocita in the Humble ISD with a third degree felony. ABC13 reported that he “shouted that he hated school and was going to bring a gun to school and shoot everyone.” Extra police officers were at the dance at the Timberwood Middle School on Friday night.
Police arrested a man in South Carolina after he posted menacing communications against a school with the name “Cypress” in it, the Houston Chronicle reported. The Snapchat message alarmed officials in the Cypress-Fairbanks ISD (CFISD) but the threats were later determined to be against schools in Florida.
A school in the CFISD, Danish Elementary School, was the subject of a hoax. Someone made a frightening 911 call late Thursday afternoon saying a teacher had been shot. Authorities later determined that the information was false. CFISD was reported to have issued a statement saying, “This is beyond negligent, it is criminal to incite fear throughout our community.” “We will work with law enforcement to find out who the perpetrator is and seek punishment to the fullest extent of the law.”
Someone also allegedly threatened Clear Creek High School in Clear Creek ISD and the Chronicle reported that law enforcement officials in Galveston County are investigating. The intimidating claim is believed to be a hoax.
Lana Shadwick is a writer and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas. She has served as a prosecutor and associate judge in Texas. Follow her on GAB @lanashadwick and Twitter @LanaShadwick2.