Following a student’s report of an alleged threat of gun violence toward Liberty Memorial Central Middle School, police have determined the threat was not credible, according to the school district.
LMCMS Principal Jennifer Schmitt emailed families Wednesday morning that one student disclosed that they overheard another student threaten to harm their school with a firearm.
District spokesperson Julie Boyle said the LMCMS building administration worked with a school resource officer earlier in the day to investigate the report.
After interviewing both students and staff who made the report, and contacting the family of the student the report was made about, they determined LMCMS is not at risk.
“As you know, safety is our top priority and requires everyone working together,” Boyle said via email Wednesday afternoon. “Lawrence Public Schools asks our school families to assist our staff in talking to students about the seriousness of making threats and spreading rumors about threats. We appreciate our students and families continuing to report any safety concerns to an adult at school so we may immediately and thoroughly investigate them, including involving our law enforcement partners when necessary.”
Schmitt said in her email to families that the incident was resolved swiftly.
“Unfortunately, school shootings are something our children see and hear about on the news,” she wrote. “We recommend families limit what their children watch on the news and/or watch with them and talk about everyone’s responsibilities in keeping our schools safe. We find that social media and video games also are desensitizing our students to violence and threats of violence. We encourage parents to set limits and supervise their students’ screen time.”
Similar incidents have happened recently at other schools in Douglas County and beyond.
Lawrence High School families became concerned Tuesday morning after learning of a social media post warning “LHS” of violence. The threat was ultimately found to be made toward Leavenworth High School, and a teen from Fort Leavenworth was apprehended by military police in connection. The Leavenworth County attorney’s office announced Wednesday morning that the teen would be charged with aggravated criminal threat.
After a Billy Mills Middle School student allegedly made a threat toward his school on Aug. 27, Lawrence police that day determined there was no credible threat. Baldwin City police determined there was no credible threat to Baldwin Junior High School when the FBI was alerted to a potential threat to the school on Aug. 15.
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Maya Hodison (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at mhodison@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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Liberty Memorial Central Middle School student reports overhearing threat to school; threat deemed not credible
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