KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Students at Liberty High School and Liberty North High School may have noticed an increase in security on Thursday. This was a precautionary response to a threat on social media, the same one that sparked an investigation in Grain Valley on Tuesday.
Both Grain Valley and Liberty police departments have investigated the threat and found it is not credible.
Grain Valley Police Chief David Starbuck said law enforcement agencies across the country are dealing with threats like this.
Since 2010, there has been an 87% increase in school threats across the country according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
This threat was originally posted on Snapchat and referenced the recent Las Vegas shooting. It also warned students not to come to school.
"We don't take it lightly and we'll continue to investigate," said Starbuck.
Grain Valley School District notified police of the threat Tuesday night.
Between patrol officers, school resource officers and command staff, the determined the threat was not credible.
“It takes a lot of research sometimes to figure out if it is intended for someone in particular or is it just to cause alarm," said Starbuck.
Liberty and Liberty North High School students began seeing the same threatening post on social media Wednesday night.
The school district notified families of the additional security at the schools today, increasing the presence just as a precaution.
Liberty police found the threat discovered by these students was also not credible.
Both departments determined the post originated from out of state.
“Some fine work by some of our officers. They were able to track the posting to a specific residence in another state," said Starbuck.
Starbuck said with the popularity of social media, threats like these will continue to pop up and law enforcement agencies will continue to take them very seriously.
