Police: Suspect made Snapchat threat of ‘mass murdering,’ several school districts cancel class

JACKSON COUNTY, Mo. (KCTV) - Police have made an arrest in connection with a mass shooting threat in Blue Springs.

The Blue Springs Police Department stated officers were made aware of a Snapchat post, where someone had made a comment threatening “killing people - mass murdering.”

That person, a 19-year-old man, was taken into custody Wednesday morning after overnight surveillance by police. Police said there was no further danger to the public and that charges are pending with the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office. There are also pending search warrants for the suspect’s home.

Several Jackson County school districts had canceled summer school classes and activities for Wednesday due to the possible school shooting threat targeting the Blue Springs School District.

The Blue Springs School District was the first one to announce cancellations, saying the threat was considered credible but no exact or specific location was given.

According to the police, the person who made the threat is a man and the threat was generic to the school district with no specifics. However, the police deemed it credible.

The Blue Springs School District decided to act on the side of caution and cancel summer school, Prime Time, and all school activities for June 15 at least. The Lee’s Summit School District and Independence School District followed suit later, announcing school and activities for Wednesday would be canceled out of an abundance of caution. However, the districts had received no information suggesting the threat had any connection to those districts.

Fort Osage and Grain Valley schools also canceled classes and activities Wednesday morning for the day. That was followed by Odessa, Oak Grove, Lone Jack, St. Michael The Archangel in Lee’s Summit and Timothy Lutheran School Ministries in Blue Springs.

“We believe the best course of action is to close our summer school sites and all school programming until further notice,” the Blue Springs School District said in a Tuesday night post on Facebook. “We know this will be a burden to many of our families and we ask for your understanding and flexibility as we continue to keep our students, staff, and schools safe,” the district said. “Another update will be sent at or before 7 p.m. Wednesday with additional information.”

Around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, the Lee’s Summit School District sent out a letter to parents notifying them of the cancellations. As of late Wednesday morning, the Lee’s Summit school district shared that evening activities that don’t require bus transportation after 4 p.m. will resume. All summer camp activities and classes will resume on Thursday as normal.

Independence Supt. Dale Herl took to Twitter early Wednesday morning, saying, “Due to the threat related to the BSSD of an unspecified mass shooting, the ISD will cancel summer school and activities and closed Early Education sites for Wednesday, June 15th. No threat has been made in relation to the ISD, but we are canceling out of an abundance of caution.”

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