Suspicious postcard sender comes forward
An Idaho Falls woman in her late eighties notified police Friday she was the sender of the “suspicious postcard” with a stock image of an assault rifle along with the phrase, “Coming to a school Near you?” that sparked concern and fear across the community this week.
Police met with the sender of the postcard Friday morning. She said the intent of sending the card was to wake up the community to the threat of gun violence in schools. She said she had no ill intentions and expressed immense regret that the postcard may have made children fearful to go to school.
“Her intent wasn’t to panic the community or scare the children that are going to schools,” Sgt. John Marley, of the Investigations and Special Operations Bureau, said. “Her intent was to send a political statement about fire arms.”
The woman told police she sent out four postcards in total. She said she used the white pages to locate addresses in local neighborhoods which may have a high number of young children. The other three postcards have not been reported to police as of Friday morning, but the woman provided the addresses to police of where she mailed them.
The woman has participated in political activism for many years reports IFPD. She noted social media has changed the way communication spreads (quickly) and expressed deep anguish that the mail piece created emotional mayhem instead of thoughtful pause.
“We are grateful this woman came to us to tell us the intent and that she displayed care and concern for the children in our community,” said Officer Brian Smith, the lead officer in the case. “We hope that her honesty and courage in coming forward to rectify the situation will put an end to the panic which has been widespread in our community.
IFPD said the woman is not a suspect in any crime, and no charges are expected to be filed. Because of that, IFPD will not be releasing any further information about her.
You can read more on the situation HERE.
IFPD reports some very serious false allegations were made on social media over the past two days which alleged violent events. Police detectives are investigating those posts, and if they determine crimes have been committed, they will fully prosecute them.
“It snowballed to a problem,” Marley said. “It had officers really busy yesterday, following up on these leads that didn’t exist. My advice to people would be if you hear something like that to call us directly. That way we could talk about those or would confirm or deny those rumors.”
IFPD says this is an example of how spreading information, which might not be correct, can have a significant negative impact on the community. They say it’s like screaming “fire” in a crowded movie theater.
