There have been school shooting threats at Arvada West High School, Dakota Ridge High School, Grandview High School, Cherry Creek High School, Eaglecrest High School, and those are just a few in Colorado. Many students and families have become more aware of how serious and dangerous the threats are due to the past school shootings. Parents are not letting their kids go to school and calling the police to make sure they are aware of the situation.

In an article by 9NEWS, they referred to a similar threat against Telluride High School, as a “Columbine-style threat.” It stated that there were explosives around the school. The student was taken into custody and the school had a complete sweep to find any hazardous materials. 

In the past week, there have been online threats for school shootings. In 1999, Colorado was struck with the tragic school shooting at Columbine High School, 13 lives were lost and much more were injured. The Columbine shooting went down as one of the worst massacres at the time. The Columbine and Parkland shootings are examples of school threats that were acted upon.

Dakota Ridge High School received a threat via a students’ Snapchat story saying,  “Im (sic)(expletive) done with all you (expletive) making fun of me. Time is up. Don’t (sic) come to school tomorrow if you want to live.” According to an article in the Denver Post, the threat was not credible and social media spun the story out of control. It was supposed to be a joke, but many did not think it was funny at all. 

Grandview’s threat was sent out on a PlayStation 4 chat. A few students from Grandview explained that the chat had multiple people added just to scare the students. According to another article by 9NEWS, the Cherry Creek School District is taking these threats seriously and holding accountability to the people responsible. 

Although the threats that were made against Columbine in 1999 and Parkland were acted upon,  students are taking these threats as jokes. They are copying and posting similar posts as the shooters from Columbine and Parkland, but they have no intention of acting on it. They are “supposed” to be jokes.

There were 17 lives lost in the Parkland shooting and the news story was all over the media.  The shooter Nikolas Cruz, posted pictures on Instagram about the weapons he possessed long before the shooting occurred. He also commented on a YouTube video saying he wanted “to be a professional school shooter.” 

There are major consequences for the students who are making these threats. These threats are scaring not only the students but also the families. One student posted on her Instagram story that her parents were in tears and her brother was begging her not to go to school.

The backlash from the Parkland shooting has brought awareness to threats being made online and has made people more aware of school shooting threats and how to react to them. People are taking every threat seriously because they do not know if it is a joke or if it is real.