Tewksbury Middle School Threat Latest Problem Tied To Lipsi App

TEWKSBURY, MA -- Tewksbury Police Chief Timothy Sheehan said Thursday that department detectives have reached out to the company that makes Lipsi in hopes of identifying the person who sent a warning to a Wynn Middle School student Tuesday night. That warning, which contained no specific threat, prompted an evacuation of the school building Wednesday morning and a search by a bomb squad.

Lipsi may be the latest hot app among middle schoolers that parents haven't heard of yet. The social media messenger allows users to connect with people they know and then post anonymous, "honest" messages to one another. "Lipsi protects your identity so that you can share anything," according to the app's page in the Apple App Store.

Earlier On Patch: Rumor That Shut Down Tewksbury School Started On Social Media

Lipsi has already caused controversy in other school districts. Earlier this month, Wilmington Middle School officials responded to concerns that students at that school were using Lipsi to send demeaning comments and memes about students and staff at the school.

A similar app, YikYak, was forced to shut down in 2017 amid complaints it was being used by middle and high school students to bully peers. The app, which gained a large following quickly after its 2013 launch, allowed anyone to share anonymous messages with any user within a five-mile radius.

No Specific Threat In Tewksbury Case

Tewksbury Police say the student received the message warning him not to go to school Wednesday on the app Lipsi around 9 pm Tuesday. The student asked if there was going to be a school shooting and then posted a screenshot of the exchange to other Wynn students on Snapchat.

Parents who saw the exchange emailed school officials. When school officials saw the messages after they arrived to work on Wednesday, they decided with Tewksbury Police to divert students to Tewksbury Memorial High School as a precaution, police said. The anonymous message never included a threat; it was the response of the student who received the message that triggered the worries.

"why shouldn't I go to school are you coming to my school to shoot it up?" the student reportedly wrote to the anonymous message sender.

Police searched the building with assistance from the Massachusetts State Police bomb squad and the Northeast Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council school threat assessment team. Massachusetts State Police said that no hazardous items were found and students were allowed to re-enter the building around 11 am Wednesday.

Lipsi Users Are Supposed To Be Over 18

Lipsi's popularity has been fueled in part by allowing users to link to Instagram accounts and receive anonymous feedback on the photos they post on that platform. It also allows people to start an anonymous conversation with anyone within a 100-yard radius using the app.

The service says it is only to be used by people over the age of 18, but the app does not verify users' age when they sign up. In October, the apps founder, Matthew Segal told the Vancouver Sun users tended to be female. Segal said he came up for the idea for Lipsi when he kept running into a girl he liked, but lacked the courage to start a conversation with her.

The app also warns users that anyone who uses it to send abusive or threatening messages will have their identity revealed.

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Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).