TikTok School Shooting Threats Monitored By Pittsburgh Schools

PITTSBURGH, PA — Multiple law enforcement agencies across the country say they are monitoring reports of a TikTok challenge that has encouraged students to threaten gun violence at their schools on Friday, Dec. 17.

Some districts say they have been "inundated" with questions about the social media school violence rumors and have responded in letters to parents and public statements in the days leading up to Friday.

While it's unclear where the December rumor originated, a news release issued by the Tooele County School District in Utah said the original threat started as a way for students to skip
school, but "morphed into something much more disturbing."

In the Pittsburgh area, the Gateway School District in Monroeville canceled a special school board meeting Thursday and are moving to remote learning on Friday because of a social media threat, Triblive reported. District officials did not detail the nature of the threat.

Several of the region's largest districts - including Pittsburgh Public Schools, North Hills and Baldwin-Whitehall - did not detail any plans to modify instruction on Friday because of the Tik-Tok challenge.