Stamford High School student threatened to ‘shoot up the school’ on Snapchat, police say
STAMFORD CT September 10 2024— A local high school student has been arrested after threatening to “shoot up the school” Friday afternoon, according to police, the latest in a string of threats made against Connecticut schools in recent days.
Stamford police said in a news release that they were alerted by the FBI around 2 p.m. that a school shooting threat had been made on Snapchat, a social media application. FBI agents traced the phone number associated with the Snapchat account to a Stamford resident, and determined the phone was inside Stamford High School, police said.
Detectives identified the female student and her location within the school, and a school resource officer, along with officers in Stamford’s patrol division, arrested her, police said. No weapon was found in the school, they added.
After speaking with the girl’s parents, police said, officers searched two homes to which the student had “direct access,” but again no weapon was found.
Police said the student is charged with first-degree threatening and first-degree breach of peace and is scheduled to appear in court Sept. 13.
“This investigation is ongoing pending additional information sought from Snapchat / Snap Inc.,” police said. “The suspect in this incident is cooperating with the investigation.”
Several Connecticut school districts have faced threats in the opening weeks of the new academic year, including Bloomfield, Windsor, Norwich and Ansonia. The warnings, which involved overheard threats and the discovery of ammunition, prompted officials to increase security measures, conduct searches and lock down buildings.
Quinnipiac University also was briefly evacuated after a 22-year-old New York man posted a bomb threat against the school online, Hamden police said. The man, Nkemakoam Okafor, of Rochester, N.Y., was arrested and charged with first-degree breach of peace in connection with the threat, according to police.
