Law enforcement agencies and school administrators are placed in a difficult position with the proliferation of threatening messages that are vague and directionless. The latest was Wednesday when the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office was notified by Cottonwood School District about a threat being circulated. It was in the form of a text message that was making the rounds among multiple students. It said an unknown person intended to violently attack students at the school. The trouble is, it didn’t specify what school, what day or from whom the threat was coming. Over the past couple of weeks these non-specific social media threats have been made all over the country, and though any threat must be addressed, these are not considered to be credible messages. Still, deputies did extra patrols at Cottonwood schools Thursday morning.
-Steve Gibson