Threat issued to Cheney High

A social media post warning of the possibility of a violent attack at Cheney High School late last Thursday led to an increased police presence on Friday.

In a press release emailed at 12:11 a.m. March 9, Cheney Police Department Capt. Rick Beghtol said they received information from a “concerned citizen” at approximately 9:30 p.m., March 8, that “a disturbing message” had been posted on social media warning CHS students about the rumor of a possible attack the next day.

Beghtol later said it was a student who called the police station about seeing the post, and police officials immediately began verifying the authenticity of the message. Beghtol said Officer Chris Oakes was able to take a screen shot of the message, which was posted to the Snapchat app.

Cheney Superintendent Rob Roettger said he was contacted by Police Chief John Hensley at just before 10 p.m. and alerted to the message and its nature. Roettger said he then contacted Associate Superintendent Sean Dotson and CHS Principal Troy Heuett, who were able to obtain a copy of the post.

Police and school officials observed the original message was sent to students from “TCHS,” and through online investigative work, it was determined TCHS referred to Toombs County High School in Lyons, Georgia. Roettger said the message warned students of a possible shooting on March 9 and recommended staying out of school or at least being more aware of their surroundings.

A March 8 post on the Toombs County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page stated they had received several calls around 5 p.m. that day of a threat made to the high school. The Sheriff’s Office and Lyons Police Department were able to located the threat’s source, interview the student and deem it “not credible.”

Beghtol said the post has actually been circulating on the internet since 2015, and has made it to several other school districts in the area, including West Valley High school. The post made it to Cheney where “some enterprising person” changed the reference to “CHS,” making it similar to the West Valley post.

“Similar in that they’re both bogus, but we can’t say that,” Beghtol said. “In today’s world, we can’t pick and choose what we respond to. We just respond to all of them.”

Roettger agreed. The district and Police Department decided on additional police patrols along North Sixth Street on Friday, with an officer stationed at the high school until noon. The district also issued an alert to the over 8,000 phone numbers and email addresses on the district’s contact list advising parents and staff of the threat and security measures being taken.

“When we see things, we’ve got to share it,” Roettger said, adding while it probably caused worry and some disruptions, not sharing the information could allow unfounded rumors to spread and take hold.

“You’ve got to take these things seriously,” he said.

Beghtol said there is little chance they will find who spread the email locally. Snapchat is set up to automatically delete records so that no paper trail or origin can be determined.

“It’s by design, so they can remain anonymous,” he said.

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.