By Mindy Ragan Wood
Staff Writer
Yukon police are sending a clear message to students who make violent threats as a third student was arrested Wednesday.
The threat was made on Snapchat by a middle school student.
The social media post included a photo of the student, a female, holding a knife with a message that read, “Everyone don’t go to school. Ima stab all of ya’ll, Yukon students only.”
The student who made the threat was not on campus Wednesday.
Yukon police spokesman Matt Fairchild said the threat was taken seriously and the student was arrested on a complaint of making a terroristic threat by hoax, the same complaint for the two students arrested Tuesday. The threat made by those students prompted school officials to cancel classes for a day. That threat involved gun violence toward students and teachers in Yukon schools.
Fairchild said the most recent threat is no longer credible but only because the student is in police custody. Any threats made by a student involving violence will be taken seriously.
“We’re going to take any of these threats seriously until we can speak to those people making the threats, especially with the nature of what’s going on today,” Fairchild said.
“We’re going to send a message that these threats are not going to be tolerated and that each one will be taken seriously and dealt with in an appropriate manner.”
The threats come after a video went viral in the community last weekend which showed middle school students beating up a male classmate.
Yukon Public Schools Superintendent Jason Simeroth held a press conference Tuesday. He did not know why the students made the threats, but said it was completely unrelated to the bullying incident. Simeroth did not elaborate on his knowledge of the incident.
He stressed that, according to federal privacy regulations, school officials are not permitted to release any information that would identify a student and the disciplinary actions the district takes against students.
However, a police official said the students who made Tuesday’s threats are from the middle school.
Fairchild said Yukon investigators are unaware of the reason for the threats this week, but continue to probe the issue.
