The Mahomet-Seymour School District and the Mahomet Police Department worked until midnight Thursday night in response to a minor’s second social media post.
The minor posted a picture on social media that caught educators’ eyes Thursday afternoon.
Mahomet Police Chief Mike Metzler said he had a conversation with the minor before school let out Thursday.
“Yesterday after we talked to the young man and the young people involved, we felt confident that the threat wasn’t credible.”
“One stupid comment about a picture evoked another stupid comment and those two comments together, by two different people were leading us down the road of, “Do we need to be concerned?” And we were.”
“So, we talked both the parties of that conversation yesterday. And by the end of the day, we had some other information we had obtained and we felt like we were in pretty good shape.”
Superintendent Lindsay Hall notified parents via email and phone of a social media threat, and said, although the threat was non-credible, law enforcement would be at Mahomet-Seymour High School Friday.
Metzler said the Mahomet Police were notified Thursday around 9 p.m. that another post appeared on the minor’s social media account.
“Then last night, one student sent another student a screenshot reportedly from the same offending kid,” Metzler said. “ Although not a direct threat, it was certainly leading people to believe that we needed to get back in contact.”
Metzler said he spent several hours talking to the minor and his mother while also reaching out to other students involved with making the post “go viral within the community” last night.
“We believe that the post last night that stirred everybody up again did not originate, although it was under his name, did not originate with him,” Metzler said.
Metzler said that based on conversations he’s had with the minor and his mother, he feels good that everything will be okay at school today.
“I would encourage the parents to send their kids,” he said. “I would not tell people in this community, and especially our kids, that they are going to be safe if I didn’t personally believe it. If it got to that point, I would either say stay home or if you don’t feel comfortable, stay home.”
The investigation into the social media posts will be ongoing, Metzler said.
“This is not over as we’re concerned, we’re still working on this.”
The Mahomet Police Department regularly has a presence around all Mahomet-Seymour buildings as students arrive and leave school each day. Metzler also said that officers go into the schools to make sure students are safe.
“If this goes forward and looks like we need to have somebody there more often, then I’ll do that to that to the best of our ability,” he said.
“We’re all taking this seriously and we’re all doing everything that we can legally to alleviate parents concerns and to know that we’re out there.”
