Earlier this month, Shavon Harvey, living in suburban Ohio, found herself facing every parent’s nightmare. A detective knocked on her door asking about her 10-year-old son, who had sent a Snapchat message from her phone to his friends, threatening shootings at local schools. Rushing to the police station, she discovered her son already in custody. He was charged with inducing panic, a second-degree felony, and held in juvenile detention for 10 nights.
Shockingly, he is just one of many. In the wake of the September 4th shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia—the deadliest in the state’s history—hundreds of children and teenagers have been arrested for making violent threats against schools. In a three-week period, more than 700 young people, including children as young as fourth graders, were accused of issuing threats in at least 45 states. Of those arrested, nearly 10 percent were 12 or younger.
The wave of arrests comes as police and school administrators face an unprecedented surge in threats of violence. These threats, primarily circulated on social media, have led to widespread fear, forced school closures, and plummeting attendance. In Georgia alone, 98 students from 56 counties were taken into custody within just two weeks of the tragic school shooting.
Experts explain that high-profile school shootings often trigger a spike in copycat threats. This effect has been amplified this fall, as the start of the school year coincided with the aftermath of the Georgia attack. Schools have been overwhelmed, with social media threats flooding platforms like Snapchat and TikTok, forcing law enforcement to investigate each one, despite the overwhelming majority proving unfounded.
Despite the increase in threats, actual incidents of gunfire on school grounds have remained below recent averages, according to data from Everytown for Gun Safety. However, the sheer volume of threats has been staggering. For example, Arizona schools experienced a 156 percent increase in threats in just one week in September. In Ohio, the number of reported threats this year has already surpassed all of 2023, with the majority coming in just one month.
This escalation has prompted difficult questions about how law enforcement should handle these cases. Some officials, like the sheriff of Volusia County, Florida, have adopted harsh tactics, publicly posting the names and images of children accused of making threats. Others, like Christopher Wren, a detective overseeing a statewide threat assessment program in Arizona, worry that arresting children could damage efforts to build trust with young people, making them less likely to report genuine concerns. Research supports this concern, showing that even brief detentions can have long-term consequences for a child’s education and future interactions with the justice system.
The motivations behind these threats are complex. Some children make threats as pranks or to gain attention, while others act out of frustration, fear, or a desire to intimidate. Regardless of intent, the effects on schools and communities are real, causing increased anxiety, disruptions, and even panic attacks among students. For teachers and administrators, already grappling with the emotional fallout from the pandemic, the added burden of constant threats has been overwhelming.
Experts stress that many children making these threats are in need of mental health support, not incarceration. Behavioral issues, they argue, are often a form of communication—signals that students are struggling with underlying emotional challenges. Unfortunately, many school districts are underfunded and lack the resources to adequately address these needs.
Alyse Ley, a child psychiatrist at Michigan State University, believes that recent events highlight how children are “screaming out for help.” The pandemic, social media, and the pervasiveness of violence in both media and real life have desensitized many young people to the consequences of their actions. As schools and communities continue to grapple with the surge in threats, experts agree that prioritizing mental health services and counseling for students is essential to preventing further incidents.
As for Shavon Harvey’s son, he now understands that what he thought was a “stupid prank” has serious repercussions. Released from detention, he remains under scrutiny, with his future still uncertain. His mother, frustrated with the severity of law enforcement’s response, feels her son is being used to make an example. While she agrees that threatening a school is no laughing matter, she argues that her 10-year-old is not a danger to society.
In the larger conversation about school violence, cases like his raise difficult questions about the balance between safety, justice, and the need for compassion when dealing with children. For many, it’s clear that the solution must go beyond arrests and toward a systemic change that addresses the mental and emotional well-being of students across the nation.
