INDIANAPOLIS— Schools across Indiana are seeing an increase in violent threats made on social media.
Monday morning, Center Grove Community Schools had an extra police presence after threats made Thursday.
"We are showing more presence. Your kids in the schools around here are as safe as they’ve ever been," said Major Andy Fish with the Johnson County Sheriff's Office.
Fisher says on Thursday night, he along with Bargersville and Center Grove Police Departments investigated a threat made to students via TikTok.
"We’re dealing with situations today or complaints today from posts that were made Thursday that people are just now seeing on social media because its been sent to so many people," said Fisher.
These threats are happening across the state. On Monday, Lafayette Police said they arrested a 14-year-old involving threats made to an area high school and middle school. Last week, Indiana State Police investigated three separate school threats at Indianapolis Schools. Two investigations resulted in the arrest of a 12 year-old and 15 year-old. The third investigation was unsubstantiated.
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"It's unfortunately a sad reality of the world we live in right now. I would say that things tend to go in cycles," said Herbert Stapleton, the special agent in charge at the FBI field office in Indianapolis.
Herbert says in the last few weeks, these threats have increased across the state and country.
"I would stop of short of blaming any particular medium or maybe even call it a trend, but definitely where we see a lot of this threat activity is on social media applications," said Herbert.
On Friday, IPS had threats made at Broad Ripple Middle School.
In a statement the district says, On Sept. 13, Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) was made aware of a social media threat at Broad Ripple Middle School that was circulating among students at the school, and a rumor of an active shooter in the building. Neither the threat nor rumor was true.
IPS Police and IMPD immediately investigated and found both not credible.
Students and staff remained safe in the building.
Unfortunately, there has been a disturbing trend of different social media messages warning about possible school shootings throughout Indiana and the country. These messages via the internet and social media have been reported across districts in Indiana, Virginia, Tennessee, Minnesota, Illinois and many more.
"Knee jerk reaction fear and asking more questions," said Cassandra Kruse, an IPS parent.
All law enforcement agencies are urging people to report threats when they hear them and stop sending them out online if they receive. They also warn about making these threats.
"If you’re thinking about posting an online threat I would want people to think twice. That is a crime. It’s not only wrong but that is a crime and you could be exposed to very serious consequences," said Herbert.
