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Kansas, OK police investigate school threat

Posted at 6:09 PM, Sep 13, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-13 23:06:00-04

Kansas, OK. -- Rumors of a school shooting send parents in the Kansas school district in a panic.

It started Monday when school officials say a fight broke out at the high school with two girls.

"It escalated it was out of control it looked like a street fight or something," said Phil Isom, the Kansas high school principal.

Even though school leaders say the girls were expelled, students heard they were going to come back and retaliate by shooting up the school.

"Don’t know with these kids these days, don’t know what they’re thinking, they can easily get a gun if they wanted," said Katrina Colvard, a parent of students in the Kansas school district.

Rumors were swirling on Facebook, adding fuel to what police say was a nonexistent fire.

"We still haven’t found anyone who could give us a name of the person who actually said they were going to do it," said Chief Mike Wilkerson of the Kansas police department.

Parents pulled their kids out of school Thursday, and the low attendance caused the district to cancel classes on Friday.

"The district didn’t get out in front of this and tell us what is going on, we shouldn’t have to hear this from our kids," said Colvard.

But administrators say the investigation with police was ongoing, and dealing with all of the social media rumors, they wanted to send out the most accurate information.

"If you’ve got a true emergency, dial that 9-1-1, you’re going to get an officer a lot faster and a lot quicker than a text or from Facebook," said Chief Wilkerson.

Police circle around campus daily, but the district doesn't have enough money for a school resource officer.

"We have put in for some grants but, we’re a small town, and it’s hard for a small town to get those kind of grants," said Chief Wilkerson.

But an incident like this may spark some change.

"It might spur further discussion of when there’s a will there’s a way," said Isom.

Classes in the district will resume on Monday.

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