KYLE — On Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, the Hays County Sheriff’s Office detained and charged a 11-year-old, sixth grader from Simon Middle School for making a school shooting threat. This threat was made on social media on Thursday and was directed at both Simon and Chapa Middle Schools.
The most recent arrest brings the total number of Hays CISD students arrested and charged with threatening schools to six, in five separate locally originating incidents since Sept. 11, said a news release.
These locally originating incidents are in addition to various other non-specific threats made regionally and nationally that have been circulating.
“This entire flare-up of social media threats against schools is frustrating, concerning, and senseless,” said Tim Savoy, Hays CISD chief communication officer. “It’s frustrating and taxing for school and law enforcement investigatory resources, as well as parents. It’s concerning because it causes great alarm and fear among parents and students. And it’s senseless because these young children are creating enormous problems for themselves by committing criminal acts for no reason other than they think they are making jokes. No one wants to see a young person be charged with felony offenses, but no school threat will go uninvestigated or unanswered.”
According to a news release, the most recent student joins two students from Johnson High School, a student from McCormick Middle School, a student from Wallace Middle School and two Simon Middle School girls. All of the middle schoolers are sixth grade students. They face various felony charges related to making false alarms, terroristic threats, and lying to investigators.
As of the publication of this news release, there are no pending threats against any Hays CISD school, and all previous threat investigations have concluded, resulting in arrests.
In response to the spate of threats, the district is increasing education and awareness of the seriousness of posting threatening messages on social media. Posters have been designed and will be printed for display in the district’s middle and high schools as early as next week, said a news release.
Additionally, Hays CISD joins all of the other districts in the Austin area in asking for help from families to communicate to children the serious consequences and the real impact that accompany making social media threats.
Report school threats or suspicious activity to iWatch Texas at https://www.hayscisd.net/iwatchtexas or by calling 9-1-1.
