Valley schools hit by wave of threats. Fresno school threats were hoax, police say

Schools in the Fresno area like many around the state and country have been hit by threats of violence that appear to be making the rounds on social media, but Fresno police said Tuesday they are not credible.

Police said the latest threats surfaced Monday night, but investigators said they were fake threats that have been shared before and recirculated.

“Although at this point in the investigation there does not appear to be any credible threats, the Fresno Police Department will be increasing its uniform presence around the schools throughout the day,” police said in a statement on social media Tuesday.

The Madera County Sheriff’s Office said threats in its jurisdiction were tracked back to a social media trend linked to last week’s “Friday the 13th.” Last Friday was Sept. 13.

Though the threat was determined to be fake, Minarets High School just off Highway 41 in O’Neals was under lockdown as deputies looked into the potential danger.

“We would like to once again reassure parents and the community there is no threat to students or staff related to last week’s incident,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement Monday.

Some agencies around the country have said the wave of threats first started following the Sept. 4 mass shooting Appalachee High School in Georgia. Two students and two teachers were killed.

The threats typically appear in social media posts and feature photos of a gun.

Every time the district receives these threats — even if they are not credible — school can be disrupted, and students and their families are affected emotionally, according to A.J. Kato, the communications manager for Fresno Unified School District.

“Even though these recent posts have been found to have no validity, we want to remind our families and community they are not harmless,” Kato said in a written statement. “We, along with our law enforcement partners, take every instance seriously, so each time someone posts or shares a post it pulls officers and additional resources from other areas of need.

“It is also very frightening for our families and students to see something being shared that relates to their school,” Kato said.

The threats will not be tolerated, she said.

Threats within the past week came in to schools around the central San Joaquin Valley.

A 13-year-old was accused of posting a gun on his social media in a threat Sept. 10 to Strathmore Middle School, according to the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office.’

Then two teens were arrested in a separate threat to schools in Visalia Unified School District.

Hoax calls in places like Modesto and Sacramento also led to police response.

The Modesto Bee reported two minors were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of making threats to campuses in social media posts.

In a separate incident, a 14-year-old Newman boy was arrested Friday on suspicion of making threats to local schools in the Newman and Patterson areas.

Four schools in the San Juan Unified School District were also targets of the hoax, according to a report by The Sacramento Bee. The Buckeye Union School District and Rocklin Unified School District also received threats.

Threats also made news out of state in Texas and Illinois, to name a few.