KANAWHA COUNTY, WV (WOWK) – Dozens of schools across the region have closed their doors or increased security after receiving potentially dangerous active shooter threats. This spike is not uncommon for law enforcement to see after a wide-scale shooting, like last week at Apalachee High School.
In just the past few days, we have seen schools across Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia receive threats, but it’s not just the Tri-State. Cities across the country are seeing an uptick in these threats, which are being pushed out through messaging apps like Snapchat.
Here’s where local schools have been threatened in West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky
National School Security expert Dr. Kenneth Trump says that most of these threats turn out to not be credible, but the care of students falls on local agencies and schools. Trump says that the more detailed or specific a threat is, gives it more credibility, but that all threats must be thoroughly investigated.
“We want to see schools have threat assessment teams, trainings, and protocols in place, heightened security procedures to investigate the threat while still keeping kids in school and strong communication procedures to give out accurate and timely information to reduce the rumors and misinformation,” he says.