LAFAYETTE, La. (KADN)- UPDATE: Lafayette High School (LHS) officials sent a message to parents around 8:00 pm Monday night notifying them about a second threat directed at students was found on social media.
A pair of juveniles are arrested following a threat posted to that prompted a lockdown at LHS around noon on Monday.
One of the kids arrested was a non-student who allegedly was trespassing on campus during the lockdown. The other was a student, who was present during the lockdown, accused of making a phony 911 call about seeing another student armed with a gun on campus.
“No firearms were located on the school property,” Senior Corporal Matthew Benoit with the Lafayette Police Department (LPD) said.
A violent post from a account titled @hateLHS on Twitter aimed at specific LHS students and staff prompted the campus-wide lockdown.
The tweet from a account titled @hateLHS on Twitter aimed at specific LHS students and staff prompted the campus-wide lockdown. It has since been taken down.
“Any threat when it pertains to our students in our community is going to be taken extremely serious,” Sr. Cpl. Benoit said.
During the lockdown, the 911 call came through, reporting a student near a specific building with a gun. This prompted a heavier police presence.
After scouring the campus, police say that call was a false alarm.
“It’s very serious thing when you when you create alarm like this or create panic and you terrorize students or school. It's a very serious situation and it's a serious charge, it's a felony charge,” he said.
Paul Mancuso, a cyber security expert, believes that police will ultimately be able to track down whoever is behind this social media threat.
“If something's posted anonymously on a Twitter account or a Facebook account, they'll normally track it down through the email address that was connected to and using the IP address. They can usually track that down to a device typically,” Mancuso stated.
The investigation behind the threat is still ongoing and it's unknown if the tweet was connected to the 911 call.
“Even though you think you may be doing something anonymously, or you set up an anonymous account, it's definitely not something that is completely full-proof.,” Mancuso explained.
Lafayette police encourages any student that may know who is behind this account to speak up.
“Don't keep anything to yourself if something seems suspicious or strange to you,” Benoit said.
The LHS arrested was charged with terrorizing and booked into the Lafayette Juvenile Detention Center. The non-student was charged with trespassing and released on a summons.
Although a new threat resurfaced Monday night, LHS still plans to resume normal operations Tuesday with additional police on hand.
