MOUNDS, Okla. — Two Green Country school districts are dealing with threats. One district canceled classes for the day, while the other saw the arrest of a teen girl.
2 News Oklahoma's Naomi Keitt spoke with parents and police in both districts to learn about the threats and the response.
School will be back in session in Mound on Tuesday, Jan. 27 after police said a threat to a student was not credible. The investigation closed schools all day Monday.
“It’s not supposed to happen here. It’s not supposed to happen anywhere," said Sarah Swayze, a parent with children who attend Mounds Public Schools. She told 2 News she and her husband moved to the community for the small-town feel and the safety that brought with it.
“It’s scary. You don’t know what’s going to happen next,” said Swayze. She worked at Mounds Public Schools before she had kids, but told 2 News nothing like that had happened there then.
Mounds Police Chief Antonio Porter told 2 News they were alerted that someone threatened to beat up a student and shoot them at school on a video game platform over the weekend.
He immediately called the district and recommended classes be canceled Monday to investigate.
“It’s necessary because I’m responsible for every life at that school," said Porter. “This is a high priority because their lives are important to me. We want to make sure this community stays safe, and the kids can go to school and not have to worry about someone coming in with a gun.”
Chief Porter said the threat turned out not to be credible, but parents like Swayze said they were grateful for the steps taken to keep students safe.
“I’m glad they shut it down. I’m glad they’re taking precautions,” said Swayze.
Mounds schools are not the only district dealing with threats. 2 News listened to the Pryor Police Chief – who said they arrested a teen girl in response to a threat to schools and students in Pryor.
“Anytime a threat comes in We get our detectives involved in it immediately and we start gathering the information,” said Chief Jeremy Cantrell with the Pryor Creek Police Department.
He said the threats started on Snapchat. He said they started vague but got more specific.
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“That was becoming more narrowed down to what school and it was talking about shootings. There were a couple of kids names that were involved in this incident," said Chief Cantrell.
In response, the department alerted parents, ramped up security, and informed the public.
Chief Cantrell told 2 News they quickly located the teen they say was posting the threats.
“If you’re going to make a threat, we’re going to take it seriously,” said Chief Cantrell.
Both police chiefs tell 2 News this is a serious issue with serious consequences, including potential felony charges.
“I foresee multiple charges come out of this because there were some directed threats later throughout the course of the conversations,” said Chief Cantrell.
“We want this to be a safe community, a safe school, a safe environment period so our job here is to make sure that we keep it that way,” said Chief Porter.
Mounds Public Schools said it will be open on Tuesday, Jan. 28.
The superintendent said they'd have additional police presence on campus throughout the say as an added safety precaution.
