Plano Parents Worried About School Shooting Threat Investigation
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PLANO, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - An investigation into a potential shooting threat at a Collin County school has parents worried about the safety of their children.
Police and school officials tell us they've been investigating a possible shooting threat for weeks, but it was only Thursday that parents of students at Wilson Middle School received a letter that reveals the growing complexity of threats made in the age of social media.
What to make of a photo of a student with a rifle remains an unanswered question for many Wilson Middle School parents.
A letter from the school principal describes an investigation into "perceived threats... by use of weapons."
"I learned by going through my daughter's cell phone that she had been threatened by a young man that she goes to school with who threatened to shoot her and two other classmates," Wilson Middle School parent Jennifer Davis said.
Police and school officials remain tight-lipped about details of the investigation, but Davis says she met with school officials earlier this month who agreed to separate from her daughter the student accused of making the threat. Davis says detectives searched the boy's home and found no gun, so she agreed to let her daughter return to school. But she says last week the boy violated the stay-away agreement, then Davis found the profile photo with a rifle on the boy's social media page.
"They said that because we didn't have proof that they couldn't qualify it as a terroristic threat," Davis said.
The case just isn't as clear cut as other recent school threat investigations. In February Anna Police released a photo of a student taken into custody after posting the photo of himself with a rifle and a blunt message, "Don't come to school tomorrow."
Last week Princeton police arrested a student for making a terroristic threat on the social media app, burnbook that included a photo of himself. But Wilson Middle School parent Lori Stephens says just because the photo of the Wilson student wasn't sent as an explicit threat, it still worries her.
"He's projecting an image, a threatening image, and the audience is his peers," Stephens said.
That's why Stephens would like the school to provide more information about the investigation.
"So we can feel assured that... that we won't have the next school shooting," Stephens said.
As for Davis, she says she has some difficult decisions to make.
"We're going to do what's best for our family, whether that be change schools, move, we don't know," Davis said.
CBS11 spoke by phone with the mother of the boy accused of making the threat. She didn't want to go on camera, but she believes this has been blown out of proportion. She says her family is cooperating and is satisfied with the way the school is handling the situation. The school district insists students are safe. Police tell us this remains an ongoing investigation
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