Potential School Shooting Prevented

Potential School Shootings Prevented by Student Reporting 

Last Wednesday, a 15-year-old student at Tranquility Highschool in California was arrested after making threats on social media.

Authorities investigated the threats after students and other community members expressed concern over comments made by the student on social media platforms expressing their desire to shoot up the school.

Deputies of the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office searched the teen’s home where they located a TEC-9 pistol and subsequently arrested and charged the teen with illegal possession of a firearm and making criminal threats.

“We applaud the community members who chose to speak up and report the concerning social media messages and encourage others to do the same moving forward. Many lives at Tranquility High School were potentially saved this week,” said the Golden Plains Unified School District.

A similar situation occurred last month at a school in Durham, North Carolina. Chip Sudderth, Durham Public Schools Chief Communication Officer, said Student Resource Officers were made aware of two students who had plans to bring a gun to school via their anonymous tip line.

Officers met the perpetrators at the entrance to the school where they discovered that the two students were in possession of a firearm. Both were charged and taken into custody.

ANONYMOUS REPORTING SYSTEMS

Anonymous reporting systems are a great way to report alarming issues to school administrators. In a 2019 study conducted by the United States Secret Service which studied 41 incidents of targeted school violence in K-12 schools, researchers found that all of the student attackers had exhibited concerning behaviors with 94% exhibiting concerning behaviors while at school.

The study also showed that in 66% of attacks the attacker told at least one person their intent but received no response.

Make sure your school has an anonymous reporting system in place to provide students with a safe way to report anything alarming.

FEAR OF RETALIATION

One of the most commonly reported reasons for the lack of response—fear of retaliation.

Kokomo ESCALATE™ allows your students the ability to report threats without fear of retaliation through the option of anonymous reporting. Students and faculty know that their identities will be protected at all cost while threats are investigated by administration and local authorities. Kokomo CASES™ can help you to create a safer and healthier environment by providing one centralized dashboard to help you collect, track and respond to any issues that arise in order to help you better prevent, respond to and recover from both the predictable and the unpredictable.

Ever since Kokomo24/7® was founded in 2018, we have been a leader in compliance and risk management solutions for all things health and safety. Kokomo proudly serves workplaces, communities, and schools with continuity software solutions including surveys, case management, accreditation and vaccine tracking, guest management, notifications, occupancy management, anonymous reporting, and emergency operations. Our mission is to deliver highly effective, easy-to-use, and trusted compliance and risk management solutions that bridge the gap between public safety and technology.  

Help Keep Your Students Safe Today 

https://www.cbs17.com/news/local-news/durham-county-news/2-students-found-with-guns-at-hillside-high-school-in-durham-deputies-say/

https://www.campussafetymagazine.com/safety/tranquility-high-student-arrested-for-alleged-school-shooting-threats/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=content&utm_source=email&utm_medium=mc&utm_campaign=317207

https://abc30.com/school-shooting-threat-tranquility-high-student-arrested-with-gun-social-media-posts/12325640/

National Threat Assessment Center. (2019). Protecting America’s Schools: Analysis of Targeted School Violence. U.S. Secret Service, Department of Homeland Security.