Every year, nearly 3000 children and teens die from gunfire, and nearly 14,000 are injured.

Monday, June 4, 2012

High school student threatened to be shot in anonymous tweet, in Oregon

A high school student in Junction City, Oregon, is staying home from school for fear of his life, after receiving an anonymous tweet from another student which warned that he would be shot in the head if he went to school.  There is a suspect, but no positive ID.

The school doesn't feel they can take any action without a positive ID on the student.  Police are investigating further.

From an article:

"He's concerned, he's upset about it," the dad said. "He does certainly understand why we're keeping him home from school." 
The dad said keeping his son home from school Thursday was the right thing to do when he heard about the tweet from an anonymous Twitter handle. The post reads: "[I'm] going to bring a gun to school and *** on (the victim's name) big ******* head." 
The school initially heard about the tweet on Tuesday through the high school athletic department.
"The whole gravity of the situation is kind of disconcerting ... he's had to stay home from school for his own safety. I don't know what this kid's capable of," said the dad. 
Based on some of the language, the parent said he thinks he knows who typed the tweet. He went to Junction City High School with that information, but the suspected student is still in class. 
"I don't think that the threat is being taken by the school as seriously as it should be," he said. 
While Junction City's principal said the tweet itself likely violates a number of points in the district's bullying/harassment policy, the school hasn't been able to definitively figure out the tweet's author. 
Therefore, the principal said, the school can't administer any punishment yet, like suspension. 
"We need to act with certainty. And until we can establish that, you take away a student's right to an education ... it's not something that you can undo," said Principal Malcom McRae. 
McRae said the school and police are still investigating where the tweet came from and trying to figure out how to catch culprits who seem anonymous. 
"This is just a lot more complicated and a lot more tangled to solve," said McRae.

The article didn't mention if the school was going to take any other actions, such as beefing up security, notifying parents, or searching lockers.

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