WEST SENECA, N.Y. (WKBW) — The West Seneca Central School District announced a potential threat was being investigated at West Seneca West Senior High School Friday.
Around 1:40 p.m. Friday the district issued a statement on its Facebook page that it was informed of a social media post indicating a potential threat to the West Senior community.
According to the district, the school was placed in a lock out and a shelter in place as a precautionary measure. The district said students were safe and dismissal was planned at the normal time with a police presence as a precautionary measure. All afternoon and evening activities in the district were canceled.
Police said all students were safely dismissed for the day and the investigation is ongoing.
This was the second potential threat investigated in the district Friday. Around 11:45 a.m. Friday the district released a statement on its Facebook page after a potential threat was investigated at West Middle School.
Police issued the following statement around 3:45 p.m. Friday on the two incidents:
This morning our School Resource Officer at West Seneca West Middle School was notified that a student had observed another student to possibly be in possession of a handgun. The school immediately initiated a shelter in place and the report was quickly investigated by the SRO and other officers who responded to the school. We conducted a thorough investigation, including interviews, an exhaustive search of students, lockers, and a review of school surveillance video, and have determined that at no point was there any credible threat to school safety or any student in possession of a weapon.
Shortly after, a threat directed towards West Seneca West Senior High School began making its rounds on Snapchat resulting in a lockout and shelter in place. Students have been safely dismissed for the day and after school activities have been cancelled across the district. Officers responded to the school as a precautionary measure and are currently investigating the source of the threat.
A rash of similar threats and incidents is being seen nationwide over the past few days. While we have not found these to be credible, we take all threats towards our schools seriously and are prepared to immediately assist in the event anything arises. If you have a child in school, please discuss this with them, monitor their use of social media, and report anything that you feel is suspicious.
We will continue to investigate these incidents and will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law anyone involved with making or fabricating threats towards our schools.
