BALTIMORE — Most Maryland students have yet to complete their first month of the new school year.
Despite being so early Harford County already experienced a shooting inside Joppatowne High School, while many others around the state have faced threats of violence causing widespread fear and panic.
On Friday Anne Arundel County Police issued an alert revealing disturbing trends.
"Over the past 36 hours, approximately 42 school threat tips were submitted statewide," police noted. "These tips, originating from various counties and schools across the state, appear to be primarily shared on social media platforms, often accompanied by screenshots."
Those schools include Dumbarton Middle School in Baltimore County and Walter P. Carter Elementary School in Baltimore City. Each have been under threat this week.
Over the past 24 hours in Anne Arundel County alone, 14 tips about potential school threats were submitted, surpassing the 13 tips received last week, which remain under investigation.
Police say each tip requires a special investigation yhat can cause strain on vital resources.
"We don’t want to fuel the fire, we want to put the fire out," Justin Mulcahy, a spokesperson for Anne Arundel County Police, told WMAR in a Friday interview. "So consider the police department as the fire hose trying to put the fire out. Get us the information, let us vet it, we take it very seriously. But unfortunately, when you share it broad and wide, it can really cause panic. And again there are nefarious actors who want to do that."
All threats so far were deemed unfounded, although investigators are still trying to track down the perpetrators.
Some, however, have been identified. On Friday Baltimore County Police arrested a 15-year-old student accused of threatening a school in Lansdowne.
"This is serious, these types of things. Whether it originates as a joke or a hoax, or you’re just picking up someething and you’re sharing it more and more, and you think it’s funny, it's not. There’s serious consequences to this," Mulcahy added.
