North High School Briefly Locks Down After Threat on Social Media

On September 8, North High School went into a secure perimeter (formerly lockout) mode after a threat to students circulated on social media from an individual with no known connections to North. School principal Scott Wolf shared the following statement with school families and the community on September 9 to summarize the situation:

Vikings, we want to take a moment this evening to acknowledge with you all that the last two days here at North have been hard, heavy days. Our entire community has been impacted and if you have been feeling stress, anxiety, fear, or the many other emotions that can accompany this kind of incident, know you are not alone. We want to thank every student, family member, staff member, and community member who took action over the last few days to communicate with the school, Safe2Tell, or DPD about what they were hearing or seeing related to the threats against North. We are strong together because of the care, courage, and community that exists here at North High School.

We want to provide you all with an update related to today’s events and what we have learned from the investigative teams working on this situation. Denver Police and DPS Safety believe there was one original threat, which was posted yesterday by one individual on Snapchat.  This post was shared widely and quickly, and prompted the creation of many other posts on social media sites that were then also shared widely.  This is what led to the second round of perceived threats that circulated on social media yesterday evening, the main post including an audio clip.

Denver Police and DPS Safety took action to investigate this threat and the individual who created the original post. It was determined that it would be safe for students to be in school today as the individual who made the post was identified and connected with authorities.  Out of an abundance of caution, additional safety officers and police were present at school today.  We respect every student and family’s decision related to whether students were at school or not today as threats like the ones that were shared absolutely bring about fear.  Students who were present at school reported that they felt safe and we will continue to check in with students over the coming days.  

If you hear of any other information or ever have any tips to help keep the North community safe, please reach out like you did in this situation so that we can look into any situation and know that you can always report anonymously through https://safe2tell.org/.

As we head into Friday, we want you all and your families to know that we believe North is safe and we will return to normal operations. We know that it will take time to heal as a community and we will do so together. Thank you all so much for your love, care, communication, and cooperation during these hard two days. If you need anything, we are here for you– today, tomorrow, and all the days after that.

#VikingPride

Denver North High School image

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