Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers is asking for the help of Lee County students to track down the persons responsible for two separate school threats this month.
The first incident occurred on Thursday, September 5th at Varsity Lakes Middle School in Lehigh Acres. In the early afternoon hours, a written threat was discovered by a student in the second floor girls bathroom. Inside one of the stalls, someone wrote “shoot up the school tomorro with my dad.” To date, the student responsible for making this threat has not been identified. The second unresolved situation was on Tuesday, September 17th at Cypress Lake Middle School. That afternoon, a student informed school administrators of a written threat in the boys bathroom. The threat, which stated “I will shoot up this school” was carved in the back of a bathroom stall door. Although several students were interviewed by School Resource Officers, the person who wrote the threat has yet to be held responsible.
Both episodes were thoroughly investigated by detectives and have been deemed as non-credible. Despite that, both threats equate to felony crimes, and once the responsible students are identified, they will be charged accordingly.
“We hope that parents of students at these two middle schools will take the opportunity today to discuss these threats with their sons or daughters before they head back to school Monday morning,” said Trish Routte, Crime Stoppers Coordinator. “It cannot be stressed enough that the students making these threats are committing a crime and that these actions are very serious matters and by no stretch should be considered funny or a joke. Students have various ways to report what they know about these threats completely anonymously. It’s a role they play in helping keep their schools safe.”
Students with information on either of these incidents are asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-TIPS (8477). All callers will remain anonymous and will be eligible for a cash reward of up to $3,000. Tips may also be made on the Crime Stoppers website at www.southwestfloridacrimestoppers.com or on the P3Tips mobile app.