Police: Petaluma High School threats not credible; Shared doc authors investgated

PETALUMA -- Police in Petaluma have not found any evidence that violent threats from a shared document in a high school on Tuesday pose a credible threat, but said they "take all threats seriously," the department said on Thursday.

On Tuesday, officers were contacted around 2:38 p.m. by an administrator at Petaluma High School to investigate a report of students using a shared document that included inappropriate content, according to police.

The shared document was being viewed both on a monitor in the classroom and on at least 80 students' laptops, "creating a scenario similar to a live stream," police said.

The document could be accessed by anyone who possessed the link.

Students began noticing multiple anonymous users editing the document and adding inappropriate content such as racial slurs, pornographic images, threats of sexual violence and a statement about a "hit list" that mentioned an AR-15 assault rifle and "223 casings." The "hit list" showed a screenshot of all the people currently viewing the document, police said. Three students were logged into the document anonymously.

According to police, several students were interviewed but none of them claimed to know who made the edits and all of them denied involvement.

Students told police that the threats were a "joke" and not credible, police said.

"We recognize the fear this has created and we condemn this type of behavior," said the Petaluma Police Department in a statement released Thursday. "This investigation is ongoing and once the perpetrator(s) are identified, they will be held accountable."

On Tuesday, police said they were attempting to use forensic evidence to determine the authors of the posts.