School officials across the country are responding to an online threat spread through TikTok and other social media platforms warning of a spree of deadly violence on Friday.
Some law enforcement agencies have determined the anonymous threat to be a hoax, but some schools are taking precautionary safety measures.
“Law enforcement agencies have investigated this threat and determined that it originated in Arizona and is not credible,” read a tweet from the official account of Baltimore County Public Schools.
The Tom’s River Regional School istrict said in an email to students’ families that the threat appeared to lack credibility, but that there would be an increased police presence as a precaution.
“We are not seeing any direct ties of this threat to any particular school in Wisconsin,” said Kristen Devitt of the Wisconsin DOJ Office of School Safety to WDJT-TV. “It is common when we are nearing anniversaries of prior attacks or coming up against significant times of time off.”
The Citrus County School District in Florida said that many of their schools are being “inundated” with phone calls from parents worried about the rumors of the TikTok threat.
“As of Thursday morning, we have not received any indication of a credible threat to any of our schools,” said the district.
The Fort Bend Independent School District in Texas responded by asking all middle school and high school students to leave their backpacks home on Friday.
“We are taking this action in the wake of several social media sites challenging students nationwide to threaten their schools. This issue is far beyond just Fort Bend ISD,” read a statement from the district.
Some parents are making their children stay home just to be safe.
Here’s a news video about the TikTok threat:
Local school districts address Tik Tok trend warning of violent threats nationwide on Dec. 17 www.youtube.com