Police increase school presence but say any threat is not credible

The Mountain Home Police increased their presence in the local schools Thursday following a post on the anonymous website Whisper this week vaguely suggesting a gunmen in the schools, but police believe there is no credible threat.

According to Police Chief Nick Schilz, the concerns began following a post Tuesday referring to someone at a school, apparently in Mountain Home, with a gun. Schilz said it resembled similar posts that have been running through that website across the country over the last week or so, all of which turned out to be hoaxes.

But, based on what authorities know at this point, on Wednesday the general post, which did not refer to any school, date or time, took on a whole new meaning when some students also posted a note "asking if everyone was ready for tomorrow (Thursday) at 9 a.m.," Schilz said. "We tracked that down and it apparently referred to some students who'd been arrested for minor consuming and had a court date at that time.

"But people put the two posts together and started to run with it. We've been told there was a bomb threat and even that a student has been shot at school," the police chief said referring to calls and online messages they have received and monitored. None of those things are true, he said.

Police learned about the posts early Thursday morning from a student who contacted one of the school resource officers, Natalie Rogers. Police quickly notified the school district, which promptly turned around and send out a notice through electronic media to parents.

Out of an abundance of caution, "because some parents are panicking, we have increased our presence at the schools," Schilz said. But, he added, "we do not believe this is a credible threat."

Whisper is designed so that all posts are anonymous, but Schilz said detectives have contacted officials at the site to try and determine who originated the first, generalized post that began the net stampede.

Anyone with any information about the incident should contact officer Rogers at 208-599-4849 or go to the police department website at www.mhpd.net and leave information on it's Silent Witness link.