Monday was a busy day on the threats of school violence beat here in our part of Virginia.
Two Harrisonburg high schools were closed on Monday after threats were made on Snapchat, and the 16-year-old male charged in that case is also believed to be responsible for threats made to “shoot up” Wilson Memorial High School, here in Augusta County.
Not that far away, as the crow flies, we had a near-tragedy at an elementary school in Orange County, where an instructional aide found a loaded gun in the backpack of a 6-year-old.
And just up the road from us, up in Page County, an end-of-the-day fire alarm forced a mass evacuation of students, teachers and staff at Luray High School, ahead of a police sweep to determine if there were any potential threats.
It seems like these stories come in bunches. Back on Aug. 30, so, three weeks ago, we had a bomb threat at Fort Defiance High School, and a separate threat to “shoot up” an unnamed Augusta County school.
This was after the school year got off to a bumpy start in Waynesboro, with the arrest of a 15-year-old Waynesboro High School student on Aug. 7, the first day of school for the new school year, related to a reported bomb threat.
A quick scan of social media on Tuesday offered snapshots of empty classrooms across the area, no doubt parents and students deciding that the assurances from law enforcement that they have the situation under control aren’t enough.
You can’t blame them.
This was just what happened on Monday
- 16-year-old student in custody after threatening school violence in Harrisonburg, Augusta County
- Developing: Social media threat targets Augusta County high school, sheriff says
- Update: Dedicated security plan in place to re-open Harrisonburg high schools on Tuesday
- Harrisonburg, Rocktown high schools closed due to alleged SnapChat threat
- Orange County: Loaded gun found in 6-year-old child’s backpack at school
- Page County: Fire alarm scare sends Luray High School students home early
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Chris Graham
