West Mifflin Police Deem Threat Of Possible Shooting At High School Football Game Unfounded

WEST MIFFLIN (KDKA) -- Authorities said the threat of a possible shooting involving a local high school football game is unfounded.

The West Mifflin Borough Police Department announced Friday they were aware of rumors of a possible shooting at West Mifflin's home game against Franklin Regional at 7:30 p.m.

The police told KDKA's Chris Hoffman the unfounded post was made on Facebook. They discovered it while monitoring social media.

The authorities also said the unfounded post was not directed at anyone and was not created by a student or parent from West Mifflin.

West Mifflin School District Police Chief Richard Pritchard said he spoke with the school's football coach, cheer coach and band director about emergency procedures on Thursday.

He told the leaders in the meeting that a heavy police presence would be at Friday's game.

Word-of-mouth stories about the meeting morphed into a dangerous rumor.

It just went wild, into it's going to be a shooting," Pritchard said.

By Friday, it turned into a post about possible threats of a shooting on Facebook.

The post was deemed unfounded after an investigation.

Franklin Regional plans to have extra personnel at tonight's game.

"It's going to be business as usual," Pritchard said. "We know that things have occurred around the area, and we're aware of that."

The Franklin Regional School District is aware of the rumors of a possible threat at the varsity football game scheduled to be played at West Mifflin School District tonight. The Franklin Regional School District is in touch with the West Mifflin Police Department as they investigate the rumor.

Last Friday, one person was killed during a shooting outside the Jeannette, Imani Christian game.