Police Investigate Student 'Suicide Pact,' Threats At 4 Schools
WINTHROP (CBS) - Police are investigating a student "suicide pact" and threats made toward four area schools on Thursday.
The pact was made between two students; one from Tewksbury and the other in Winthrop, WBZ-TV's Bill Shields reports.
In her suicide note, a 16-year-old girl allegedly threatened Winthrop High School on social media.
"It was a serious threat toward the building and the people inside that building," said Winthrop Police Chief Terrence Delehanty during a press conference.
Winthrop High went into lock down around lunchtime.
"They wouldn't let us go back up to our class," said a female student. "They were like 'You have to stay in the cafeteria.'"
By closely monitoring social media, a potential problem was avoided, school officials say.
"It's a 24-hour business when you are dealing with social media," said Winthrop Superintendent John Macero at the conference. "The thing is that people have to understand is that whether something happens in school or out of school, if it happens online it's going to affect us.
"We have to be involved with it."
A customary practice by law enforcement is to monitor social media for potential crimes.
"A lot of times there are threats. There's a lot of cyber bullying that goes on nationwide so it's a nationwide problem," said Winthrop Det. Brian Perrin at the conference.
The Winthrop teen never made it to the high school but the hold-in-place order was unsettling to students.
"My friend that went to the bathroom after the lock down...she said there were girls in the bathroom crying," said one student. "Some people were shook up about it. Other people were casual about it."
At 12:30 p.m., the school said the student in question was stopped about a block away from the Winthrop High School by police and was taken into custody. No weapon was found, Delehanty said.
Winthrop High notified parents in an email about an online suicide pact between students from four schools. One of the students also posted threats toward the schools, according to the email.
The four schools referenced in the threats were in Winthrop, Tewskbury, Woburn and Manchester, New Hampshire.
"Tewksbury police notified the WPD detective unit that they had information about a suicide pact that was posted on line," the email stated. "Based on this credible intelligence a joint command was established at the high school with police, fire and school officials and it was decided out of an abundance of caution to place the school in a hold place."
Delehanty said there is an ongoing investigation with the other communities involved, and all threats are taken seriously.
At 9:15 a.m. Thursday, Tewksbury police were contacted by Manchester police about a female Tewksbury High School student who posted a comment on Facebook indicating that she wanted to "get two guns" and "make a suicide pact."
The information was provided to Manchester police by a concerned citizen who had seen the message on Facebook.
The female Winthrop student responded to the "suicide pact" comment on Facebook by stating, "can we shoot up schools first tho".
The Tewksbury female responded by stating, "YO lets do it". No specific school was mentioned.
Tewksbury officers responded quickly in collaboration with the school resource officers and the School Department staff to locate the Tewksbury Memorial High School student.
She was removed from the school, secured, and is getting the appropriate care at this time, police say.
Tewksbury police notified Winthrop police, who also acted quickly and located the Winthrop High School student before she made it to school.
Investigators are consulting with the Middlesex District Attorney's office about criminal charges.
