Over the last several weeks, Oklahoma schools have been made aware of numerous social media posts regarding school violence. Although most of these threats were “reposted” from other social media feeds, they were shared by individuals in Oklahoma and some were edited to include Oklahoma schools.
Through law enforcement partnerships with the FBI, Oklahoma Counter-Terrorism Information Center (OCTIC), OSSI (Oklahoma School Security Institute), and other state and local agencies, individuals have been identified, and charges for Terrorism Hoax and Threatening Acts of Violence (felonies) are being submitted to the District Attorney’s office.
Parents, please have important conversations with your children about the seriousness of these offenses. All threats are taken seriously even if a person has no intention of carrying out the act of violence. A full investigation will include an application for search warrants to conduct searches of residences, seizing any weapons that may be accessible to the person, and seizing any electronic device that may have been used to make the threat. The penalty for a person convicted of a terrorism hoax or threatening acts of violence is a prison sentence of up to 10 years per charge and applicable reimbursement costs for the investigation.
Although none of these threats mentioned Harrah Public Schools, these threats disrupt learning and take up critical resources that should be focused on keeping our community safe. The Harrah Police Department has a ZERO TOLERANCE approach concerning these threats and we are committed to protecting our schools and will continue to pursue every lead.
We will continue to monitor these threats and we thank you for your support.