'I will bring a gun to school:' Arrest after viral Facebook post investigated by Shorewood PD
SHOREWOOD -- An arrest has been made in connection with an investigation into a viral Facebook post under investigation by law enforcement across the country. The post references a shooting at Shorewood High School, and prompted the principal to send a letter to parents.
Shorewood police said in an update Thursday, Feb. 22 it has been determined the post originated in Springfield, Ohio -- where a juvenile female was taken into custody by the Clark County Sheriff's Office Thursday morning. Police said she admitted to sending out the post under an alias name: "Ray Andres."
According to a statement from Shorewood police Wednesday, Feb. 21, a screenshot posted on social media shows a post from "Ray Andres," reading: "I will not being telling people what my name is, but I will bring a gun to school Tomorrow, so be prepared to hear shoots.” A subsequent post read, “Yes SHS is the school I want.”
Police said "we do not believe this is a credible threat to Shorewood Schools, nor do we believe it was specific to Shorewood High School," noting they were working with law enforcement across the country who received the same viral Facebook post.
There were four squad cars on campus Thursday morning in Shorewood.
"It makes me feel confident in the school system and the Shorewood Police Department, knowing that they were on top of things," said Sharon Duncan, parent.
"It was a pretty unusual threat. Something that we haven't dealt with before, kind of being a national type of thing," said Bryan Davis, superintendent.
Davis stressed that it was a member of the community who spoke up to alert law enforcement about this threat.
Bryan Davis
"And that's exactly what we want them to do," said Davis.
This was just one of a number of threats to schools in SE WI and across the country in the week since the school shooting in Florida that took the lives of 17 people.
"It's a difficult environment unfortunately. We've got procedures in place and continue to work on refining our drills and raising awareness," said Davis.