Police have increased their presence at three Hawaii Island schools in response to threats about school shootings. No shootings have taken place.
Police have increased their presence at three Hawaii Island schools in response to threats about school shootings. No shootings have taken place.
The schools are Pahoa High School, Keaau High School and Konawaena School.
“All reported threats in any form referencing a potential school shooting are being investigated thoroughly and are being treated appropriately,” police said in a press release.
According to police, a 16-year-old girl made a threat on Instagram about bringing a gun to the Pahoa school on Jan. 29. The posts were brought to the school’s attention on Tuesday.
Police say they opened a harassment case and located and interviewed the suspect. She was later released and the case is being routed to Family Court.
Subsequently, more social media messages were posted Tuesday about a potential shooting to take place at Pahoa High School today, and then posts began discussing that a shooting would take place at a Keaau school as well.
Additionally, police received a report about a 17-year-old boy making a social media post Tuesday with a threat about “shooting up local schools.”
He was charged with second-degree terroristic threatening. The juvenile was released to a parent.
Police say that although the posting did not contain a specific school, the juvenile was found to be connected with Konawaena High School.
