Twitter Hoax Threats Impact North Texas Schools
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - A Twitter user claimed responsibility for a series of hoax threats affecting at least five North Texas school campuses Monday.
In each case, schools were placed on precautionary lockdowns or evacuated while police searched the campuses but found no threat.
The social media account had a similar name to an account connected to school threats in Canada this month, and to one referencing a threat to the Dallas Convention Center in 2017.
In Arlington, a police officer at Bailey Junior High School spoke to the man who called in. Police said the man claimed to have placed pipe bombs at the school.
At about the same time, a user on Twitter posted "If you go to bailey junior high school in Texas, it's your lucky day."
The same account bragged, "gonna put South Grand Prairie High School on (lockdown) brb."
That school also received a threatening call, and had a fire drill to have students leave the buildings.
St. Andrews Catholic in Fort Worth was also subject to the online and phone threat. Two additional schools nearby, W.P. McLean and McLean Middle took precautions because of their proximity to the specific threat.
The account later referenced schools in Pennsylvania and New York before Twitter suspended the user.
The user name was similar to one used to threaten schools in Kingston, a Canadian city just across the New York border.
It was also similar to an account referencing a threat at the Dallas Convention Center in December of 2017.
School districts Monday said they had to treat each threat as if it was real in order to keep students safe.