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Eagle County School District, law enforcement dealing with new social media threat to students

A significant number of students opted not to attend classes at Battle Mountain High School on Monday after a widely-circulated social media post on Sunday night and early Monday stoked fears among parents and students. Law enforcement and school officials said an investigation into the threats made in the post is ongoing.
Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily archive

Eagle County School District’s superintendent asked for patience from the community as the district and law enforcement officials investigate a new threat to students that emerged on social media Monday afternoon.

Phil Qualman wrote in an email at 3:41 p.m. — his fourth district-wide email in 16 hours — that the new threat isn’t related to a widely shared social media post on Sunday night, which district and law enforcement officials said was a hoax.

The latest threat that made the rounds across social media channels includes a list of students’ names who attend Eagle Valley High School. The earlier “swatting” incident originated from a similar social media post listing various Colorado schools as targets, including some in Eagle County.



“There is no indication this situation has any connection to the swatting incident that occurred last night,” Qualman said in the latest email. “Multiple law enforcement agencies have been engaged and have identified a person of interest that they are investigating. Eagle Valley High School administration have reached out directly to all the individuals on the threat list and their families regarding this most recent situation.”

Qualman said district administrators, along with local and federal law enforcement, are actively working on next steps to ensure the safety of Eagle County students.

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“We ask for your patience as all parties work through the investigative process,” Qualman said. “These agencies need space and time to conduct a thorough investigation. We appreciate your patience if our response time is longer than usual.”

Earlier threat

The latest threat comes on the heels of Sunday night’s threat, which law enforcement and school district officials on Monday said appears to be an incident of “swatting.”

“Local law enforcement found no credibility to the social media post, and the decision was made to carry on with our school day as normal,” Eagle County School District Superintendent Phil Qualman wrote in an email to staff and district families just before 11 a.m. Monday. The email, Qualman’s third addressing the social media post in 12 hours, provided more information about the district’s decision to keep schools open.

“Swatting” entails making an illegal prank message to emergency services and falsely reporting a serious crime or criminal threat to initiate an armed police turnout to a specific location.

Students’ safety “is always our top priority,” Qualman said. “In an effort to provide support and normalcy for our students, we made the decision to continue with classes and extracurriculars today with an increased police presence out of an abundance of caution.”

The social media post listed multiple Colorado schools where local law enforcement agencies also found the threat to be unsubstantiated, Qualman said in the email. “These schools have also remained open today, with some of them not sharing out any information to keep fear from spreading in their communities.”

Activities will be canceled at some Eagle County schools today “due to lack of attendance,” rather than safety concerns, Qualman said, adding that parents who decided to keep their child home for safety reasons should reach out to their child’s school to ensure the absence is excused. Many parents decided to keep their children home from school on Monday despite receiving information from the district and the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office that the threat was unsubstantiated, resulting in lightly populated classrooms in some schools.

The Sheriff’s Office posted an update to social media at 10:45 a.m. on Monday sharing more information about the investigation. According to the post, Sheriff’s Office deputies were alerted to “an anonymous report of threats of violence at Battle Mountain High School” around 8:30 p.m. on Sunday and viewed “a screenshot listing some schools in Eagle County, schools in the Denver metro area, and schools in Texas.”

While “nothing in the original list indicated that these schools were the target of an attack,” the source of the screenshot is unknown. Later, the Sheriff’s Office received “a Snapchat photo of a suspected rifle with potential identifying information.”

Deputies investigated throughout the night, including speaking with “several students in person who were reported to have originated the post. There is no indication at this time that any of these person(s) are involved in making the original posts,” the Sheriff’s Office post said.

Federal agents and all law enforcement agencies across Colorado and in other locations were notified of the investigation.

The investigation into the threats, including the source of the original screenshot and the Snapchat photo, is ongoing.

Officials from the school district and the Sheriff’s Office declined to comment further on the situation.

A string of emails

In the first email, sent at 12:28 a.m. on Monday, Qualman said the district was working with law enforcement officials to determine the validity of the post while planning additional safety measures. 

The Eagle County Sheriff’s Office posted to its Facebook page that it has “not found any evidence to substantiate the claims made in the post.” 

The post continued, “We are working with the School District and will have an increased presence throughout the day.” 

Qualman sent a second email to district families and staff at 7:28 a.m. on Monday to share that, based on the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office’s investigation, all district schools would remain open for the day. Every school will have “an increased police presence, especially at the schools listed in the social media threat,” and district leaders are also on-site in schools “to provide additional support,” according to the email.

Vail Police tripled their usual patrol Monday outside Red Sandstone Elementary School, sending two officers to assist the school’s resource officer, Greg Schwartz (left). Schwartz said while police determined there was no credible threat to the school, extra officers were on duty at the school on Monday out of an abundance of caution.
John LaConte/Vail Daily

Qualman’s initial email at 12:28 a.m. generated a response from a group of students, who asked to be excused from school for the day without consequences.

“Our student body has been flooded with news of a possible threat,” the email reads. “Despite the uncertainty surrounding the source of this threat, its serious nature has left many of us feeling vulnerable. As students, our primary focus should be on learning and achieving our goals, but it is difficult to concentrate when our safety is in question. This situation has led many of us to consider not attending school until decisive action is taken to ensure the protection of all students and staff.”


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