Threats directed at Oregon schools lead to closures, arrests

The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office says it learned Tuesday of a threat against Estacada High School, which officials said had been “widely shared on social media.” By early Wednesday morning, school district officials had closed all schools in the district “in an abundance of caution.” Around the same time, the sheriff’s office staff said they’d made an arrest.

“The threat was made by a current high school student who has been located and taken into custody,” said the release from Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Brian McCall.

The suspect is being charged with disorderly conduct in the first degree.

While the Clackamas sheriff’s statement concluded the threat was “an isolated incident,” it’s the latest in a recent spate of threats against Oregon schools. Federal law enforcement officials in Seattle confirmed last month they’re seeing an increase in threatening behavior in need of investigation at public schools.

“With the proliferation of social media, the number of tips, or complaints, or threats has skyrocketed,” said Kelly Smith with the Seattle division of the FBI, according to a story from KING 5 TV.

In the last two weeks, Salem-Keizer and Tigard-Tualatin school officials and local police have also had to respond to threats of violence.

In Keizer, a threat was discovered on social media by a student’s parent last Saturday night. Keizer police, in collaboration with the FBI, investigated the threat and arrested a 13-year-old juvenile in Salem and charged him with disorderly conduct.

At the end of last month, threats came in directed at Hazelbrook Middle School in Tualatin, a school that has also been at the center of controversy following a violent attack by a student that was filmed and shared widely on social media.

Tigard-Tualatin district officials first received a shooting threat against Hazelbrook on Thursday, Sept. 28, but after consulting with law enforcement, they said it was not deemed credible. The Tualatin Police Department arrested a juvenile suspected of making the threat.

A second threat directed at Hazelbrook came in the next day. Shortly after school started on Friday, Sept. 29, officials received bomb threats directed at the school and staff members. They sent students home that day and kept schools closed the following Monday. Police, including the FBI, investigated the second threat and said it was found to have come from outside the local area and wasn’t credible.