Louisiana’s Baton Rouge Many parents in Louisiana are worried about their child’s safety because of a wave of online threats against many schools. However, the parents we talked to said that living in danger is just part of having a child in school these days.
“You feel nothing, but I think it’s…”A mom of a St. Joseph’s Academy student said, “I hate to say it, but as society and people change, you can not get rid of crazy.”
Police say that the threat that showed up on social media is based on a picture that has been shared across the country. Deputies in Livingston Parish say a 13-year-old changed the text to make threats against several schools in different parishes. The teen has been caught and charged with terrorism.
“He added some of his own personal touch by saying things like he was going to shoot up a school and listen to people yelling and screaming.
He got a little graphic, and I do not want to share too much of it, but those things are not only scary, they are very, very serious,” Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard said.
The Louisiana State Police and other local police say that none of the threats in the state have been real. However, any threat should be taken seriously.
“They think it is funny that I am going to make a bomb threat and other silly things like that, and that is how they think,” says Sheriff Ard. “This is really serious, and we take it very seriously.”
Sheriff Ard says the kids do not think they will get in trouble very often, but they do.
“You think it is funny, but you will be charged with it and sent to a detention center. You could also go to jail for this, so you will be kicked out of school…” “This is no longer a game,” Deputy Ard said.
The sheriff also says that everyone needs to work together to stop the spread of this post. Parents should talk to their kids about how any threat has real results.
“They see all of this and do not know if it is true or not, so they tell their friends, ‘I am not going to send my kids to school, and I am going to share this with them.’ No one shares it with us, but we do get it sometimes. “Everything is already a mess,” Sheriff Ard said.
As a parent, the Sheriff knows how hard it is to feel safe, even when there are not any real threats.
Our kids, our schools, and our teachers’ safety is the most important thing, and we will take this very seriously. We already have and will continue to do that, says Sheriff Ard.