Even though threats of shootings at Greeley schools turned out to be a hoax, one Greeley Central High School student’s fear was very real Wednesday.
“I’m taking it seriously,” said Rush Star, a freshman. “I’m a little bit scared. I don’t want to die before I’m 18.”
The threats, made through a Facebook post which went viral Monday night, claimed a shooting would take place at Northridge High School. It was a spin-off of a similar post threatening a shooting in the area of Island Grove Regional Park, 501 N. 14th Ave., on Halloween night. Several Greeley-Evans School District 6 students also received Facebook messages from fake profiles of clowns, who made further threats of a shooting. By Wednesday evening, Greeley police officers had detained two District 6 students in connection with the threats.
Greeley police officers investigated the threat’s origins throughout the day on Tuesday and into Wednesday. They traced the post to a 15-year-old girl who attended Northridge, said Greeley police Sgt. Joe Tymkowych. He said the origins of the Island Grove threat remain unclear, but the Northridge student was the one who posted a threat concerning the school.
“The evidence indicates she was the one responsible for putting the information on the internet,” he said. “She has been released back to her parents.”
Fewer than 24 hours after police detained her, an 11-year-old boy brought a BB gun to Franklin Middle School. He had a backpack with an image of a clown on it, according to Tymkowych. A Greeley police press release reported the boy told other students that he would wear “clown gloves” when he used the gun. The boy was initially released to a parent, the release said, “but due to the elements of the student’s actions (he) was then placed at Platte Valley Youth Detention Center.”
“The incident at Franklin was very unfortunate, but it was handled very quickly,” said Theresa Myers, the director of communications for District 6.
Myers applauded District 6 students, saying they helped alert school faculty and staff to the gun’s presence in their school.
In a letter on the district’s website, Superintendent Deirdre Pilch said both students police detained will face criminal charges.
Making a threat against a school’s faculty or students is a serious matter that can result in up to 18 months in jail, even if the threat is never carried out, said Tyler Hill, spokesman for the Weld District Attorney’s Office.
School attendance plummeted across the district Tuesday as many parents kept their children home, but it had essentially returned to normal on Wednesday.
Still, rumors about the threat abounded. Rush, the freshman and Greeley Central, said he even heard clowns were breaking into homes and kidnapping children. That didn’t happen, but it is an example of how distorted the original information became.
“It’s unfortunate how much misinformation was out there – and people were believing it,” Pilch said.
Concerned Facebook users created a group called Greeley Clown Updates. It had more than 1,200 members by Wednesday evening. Reactions on the page ranged from skeptical of the threats to terrified.
Jed Murphy, who is a member of the group, was one of the skeptics.
“I kind of see it as like a group of kids looking for attention or some kind of outlet,” Murphy said. “It’s Halloween time and you’re able to get away with it a little more than you are for the rest of the year.”
By the time school bells rang across the district Wednesday afternoon, no shooting had taken place.
“We’re very pleased we were able to track down the perpetrator,” Myers said. “I hope this gives our families some peace of mind.”
The school district will continue elevated security measures along with the Greeley Police Department, the news release stated.
