Rumors of school threat unfounded

— Totally unfounded is the way Gentry Police Chief Keith Smith described rumors of a possible school shooting threat.

What began as a student comment in a class discussion regarding another school shooting apparently escalated into rumors circulating via the Internet that there was a threat of a school shooting at Gentry High School.

Police and school officials investigated the comment and rumors over a period of three weeks and determined there was no plausible threat, according to Smith.

“There’s not a shred of evidence that there ever was a real threat,” Smith said on Monday,adding that if he had a child of high school age the child would have been at school.

Gentry School District superintendent Randy Barrett agreed with Smith's assessment.

According to Smith, a student had stated three weeks ago in a class discussion regarding a school shooting incident in another school that, because of some serious bullying he encountered three years ago, he understood why the school shooter might have done it.

The class comment was never meant as a threat, Smith said, and the bullying which the Gentry student had faced was three years prior and no longer an issue.

Yet rumors which circulated on the Internet, and especiallyvia social media websites, apparently caused alarm among some parents and comments regarding the police possibly being unaware of the situation.

Yet, no one ever called the police department with their concerns or information, Smith said. “If people know or hear of a threat, they need to call usbecause we are the ones who would be responding,” he added.

Though no parents or students called the department with information or concerns, the department was aware of the original comment and had looked into it and every other piece of information coming out of the investigation, Smith said, indicating that the department takes any possible threat very seriously.

News, Pages 1 on 03/21/2012