Lubbock Area Schools Online Gun Threat Used Altered & Fake Photos
There have been several threats making the rounds online about possible school shootings around the nation but some of those schools included are local. Olton, Lockney, and Plainview ISD all had to be placed on lockdown recently after online comments and threats were made. One juvenile was arrested in connection to those threats made towards Lockney ISD but it's not entirely clear if there was a connection to the other schools.
Lubbock ISD and Lubbock-Cooper ISD were rumored to be the most recent schools to receive threats via social media about possible school shootings. Lubbock ISD has released a statement that those posts on social media were actually false posts that had been circulating online. The posts in question seem to be screenshot and altered by adding texts which is what caused many parents and guardians to panic.
Those posts that were altered featured a gun stating that multiple schools in Lubbock and the surrounding school districts were going to be "shot up" at 2:30 p.m. on May 11. Those pictures were found out to be pictures that were circulating across the nation in various threats being made to schools to incite fear and panic. After these posts were brought to the attention of school officials the Lubbock Police Department was dispatched to assist in the situation regarding the posts. The Lubbock Police Department does state that the posts in question do not hold a credible threat to any schools in the area are currently working on tracking the posts back to their origin.
As per the publishing of this article there have been no arrests of any suspects in connection to the post targeting Lubbock schools. Townsquare Media intern, Gary Regner, is a senior in the Lubbock ISD school system and states that the texts made their way across the school campus causing panic and fear amongst the student body. Regner also states that the probability of a threat was too much for certain students to handle that he even witnessed some students having panic attacks throughout the day.
Lubbock ISD did take to social media to advise everyone to stop sharing those posts that are inciting fear and panic in the community. Lubbock ISD does reassure everyone in the community that their safety protocols they have in place along with the relationship they have with local law enforcement helps ensure a safe learning environment.