At least 5 Missouri school districts cancel summer school classes after mass shooting threat

CNN
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At least eight Missouri school districts have canceled summer school activities on Wednesday after local authorities said they learned of a shooting threat, as communities across the US remain on edge following a series of high-profile mass shootings.

The spate of closures began Tuesday night with the Blue Springs School District in Blue Springs, Missouri, about 20 miles east of Kansas City. The school district announced it was canceling activities “out of an abundance of caution” after Blue Springs police “alerted the FBI of a possible threat related to an unspecific mass shooting.”

“The FBI has confirmed that the individual in question whose whereabouts are unknown is dangerous,” the school district, which serves more than 14,000 students, said in a statement on Facebook.

“We believe the best course of action is to close our summer school sites and all school programming until further notice,” it said.

By Wednesday morning, seven other area school districts – including Lee’s Summit School District, Independence School District, Fort Osage School District, Grain Valley School District, Oak Grove RV-I Schools, Odessa R-VII Schools and Lone Jack School District – had followed suit, each citing the purported threat in Blue Springs.

In their own statements, officials with some districts noted they did not have any information indicating the threat was related to their respective school communities. But they, like Blue Springs, opted to cancel activities Wednesday out of an abundance of caution.

The Blue Springs Police Department learned of the threat Tuesday evening, it said in a statement, adding it was “working with other law enforcement agencies to locate the individual who made the general threat.”

The FBI confirmed it had been made aware of the threat by Blue Springs police in a statement to CNN but directed further questions to that department, which is the lead investigative agency.

“We take all threats of violence seriously and work with our local partners to provide resources as needed,” the FBI statement said.