UPDATE:

Hours after the Riley County Police Department released information regarding the gun threat at Manhattan High today, an additional copycat threat was sent to RCPD via social media by a former student. The pictures that were shared contained the same wording that the initial threat contained. Because of this, RCPD decided that it was an intentional threat intended to scare students and faculty at MHS.

RCPD contacted outside enforcement teams to investigate the second threat, in which it was determined that the threat was not valid. Despite the illegitimacy of the threat, RCPD still notified MHS of the threat and filed a criminal threat report.

“In an era of multiple school shootings each year, Riley County Police Department takes all communications about harming students or faculty seriously,” public information officer Alexander Robinson said in a press release. “If you or someone you know comes across these types of communications, please alert us so we can work to make Manhattan and Riley County safe.”

RCPD noted that copycat activities normally happen after events similar to the gun threat and that the public would not be informed about any other copycat threats unless they indicated legitimate danger to the students and faculty of the high school.

“We take things very seriously,” assistant superintendent Eric Reid said. “The safety of our students is very important and what we put out is what we’re allowed to put out and trying to work in good faith with our parents and students to keep them safe and give them good information.”

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Parents and students alike woke up this morning to an email from principal Greg Hoyt and were burdened with the choice of whether to stay home or not due to a threat for Manhattan High School.

According to the Riley County Police Department, a 15-year-old male student at MHS posted a story on Snapchat last night that contained a gun and the comment “don’t go to school tomorrow.” Upon seeing the Snap, another student at MHS immediately called RCPD and notified them of the threat.

“We’re really appreciative that someone would come forward and report something like this, especially if you don’t know the seriousness of it,” assistant superintendent Eric Reid said. “Let the authorities figure out how serious these things are so without people giving that information and sharing that, it’s very difficult because if it’s an actual situation where something could happen and someone held on to that information, it puts everybody in a bad spot.”

After receiving the threat, RCPD went to the suspect’s home and conducted a search in which they didn’t find any firearms, but they recovered two realistic-looking BB guns. The BB guns were taken in for inspection and a report for aggravated criminal threat was filed. The student was not arrested, but has been suspended from the high school.

“There’s certain things you don’t say and do,” school resource officer Randy Pushee said, “like you don’t yell ‘fire’ in a movie theater, ‘bomb’ on an airplane and you don’t make any indications of threats to schools or businesses because a criminal threat is any threat to communicate violence, communicated with the intent of placing fear or to cause evacuation, lockdown, or disruption in regular ongoing activities of any building, place ,assembly, facility of transportation, or in a reckless disregard of the risk of causing such fear or evacuation or disruption of ongoing activities.”

Due to the threat, students were given the opportunity to stay home from school if they didn’t feel safe attending. MHS security and administration also requested a heightened RCPD presence at the high school for the day.

“Obviously we’re all on alert and somewhat shaken,” Hoyt said in an announcement to the school, “but again I want to reiterate that Manhattan High school is as safe as it was yesterday.”

Check back for more updates.