Fake text message meant for a student’s mother leads to school threat investigation in Connecticut

By ROB POLANSKY

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    WATERTOWN, Connecticut (WFSB) — A fake text message meant for only one student’s mother led to a school threat investigation in Watertown.

Out of an abundance of caution, police said extra patrols would be at Watertown schools on Friday.

According to Watertown police, they received several complaints on Thursday night about a screenshot of a text message that was sent out over SnapChat.

The text referenced a threat of violence at Swift Middle School.

Police said they learned that a 12-year-old student wrote the text and sent it only to himself. He then tried to show it to his mother as a ploy to get out of going to school on Friday.

The student’s sibling got ahold of the text and sent it to friends over SnapChat, police said.

“It [has] been determined that no actual threat exists to any Watertown school,” police wrote on social media. “The safety of our schools is the Watertown Police Department’s and the Watertown Board of Education’s top priority, and we take any threat extremely seriously. You can be assured that this incident poses no threat to any Watertown school.”

Police encouraged parents to speak with their children about the seriousness of making threatening statements, regardless of whether it’s through text, speech or otherwise.

“These threats, whether a hoax or not, circulate on social media platforms very quickly causing concern and increasing anxiety in a time where anxiety levels are already running high,” police said.

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