School Shooting Social Media Post Leads To Threat Investigation

PITTSFIELD, NH — The Pittsfield Police Department is investigating a social media post, requesting a school shooting at the local high school that was made last night, and has led to one student being barred from the school and a stepped up police presence today, according to a post online. Police said they were made away of the post yesterday and were actively investigating the incident, according to Chief Jeffrey Cain of the Pittsfield Police Department. The post, by a local girl, which was submitted to Patch, was a graphic that stated, “Whoever plans on shooting up a school next, please pick Pittsfield. Thank you,” with a smiley face with a halo emoji.

“(Police) are working directly with the Pittsfield School Administration, the students (sic) parents and the Merrimack County Attorneys (sic) Office,” Cain noted on last night on the department’s Facebook and Twitter account. “The student will not be allowed back to school until we have completed our investigation and the school has conducted its own administrative process.”

Police increased their presence at the high school this morning “as a precaution,” and to provide “a safe environment for the students and staff while we continue the investigation.”

While the investigation is early, a number of parents sounded off on the department’s post saying that there appeared to be no consequences to the girl and that she was just told to take the post down.

“Doesn’t seem very effective,” one person noted, adding that the girl was continuing to make comments online.

Another suggested that the girl be forced to pay for the extra police presence while other parents said they would be keeping their kids out of school. Other commenters requested that everyone just let the police do their job. The post or posts have been removed from their girl’s feed on Facebook.

Police in New Hampshire – and across the country – are taking situations like this one as seriously as possible due to a number of shooting and threat incidents in the last few years. An incident last month in Concord involved a graphic with a picture of the accused Parkland FL shooter, claiming an incident might happen at the school. The graphic was posted on Snapchat.

Image submitted by a reader. The girl’s name and photo have been blacked out because she is a minor and has not been charged.