Threats against schools in Central TX have risen following Georgia school shooting. Why?
As the country continues to deal with the aftermath of last week's deadly school shooting in Georgia that killed four and injured dozens more, some people in Central Texas have been influenced by the tragedy... and not in a good way.
"It makes me sick to my stomach," said Hays CISD parent, Eustancio Moreno.
Since the school shooting in Georgia, there's been an increase in threats of violence to schools in area districts.
Hays CISD parent, Chris Cagle, said, "I was made aware of the threats through our school district."
Hays CISD parents like Moreno and Cagle received an email from the district that said, over the last few days, several threats have been made against at least three schools in the district.
The Hays County Sheriff's Office arrested three 6th graders this week for their involvement in the threats.
Just north of Hays County- Austin ISD and Llano ISD also received multiple threats within the last week.
"We absolutely see an uptick in potential attacks following previous attacks- it's commonly known as the contagion effect," said Brian van Brunt, a threat management director for DPREP- a disaster preparation company.
CBS Austin has chosen not to share the mugshots of the people arrested for these threats.
That's because experts like van Brunt said, the rise of threats against schools after tragedies like the one in Georgia, could be for attention.
"The things that happen on the news following an attack tend to unsettle other individuals that were already thinking of doing something, or the same thing," he explained.
Officials said one of the Hays County 6th graders arrested, admitted to officers he never intended to carry out an attack, and didn't know why he threatened the school in the first place.
Joke or not, Moreno- whose child attends one of the schools threatened- is angry and scared for his kids.
"School should be the first place that's the safest place for our kids- that's the thing, we should [be able to] send our kids to school and not have these issues," he said.
Moreno lives just down the street from Cagle- like most parents in the neighborhood, their kids attend CISD schools, and they said word about the threats spread quickly.
Most of the threats against schools in the district were made on social media, but Cagle said he wasn't surprised.
"In today's world of social media, everyone wants to be liked and everyone wants to be noticed," he said.
Cagle said he's at ease knowing arrests have been made and believes the district is keeping kids safe and secure.
He just hopes for a peaceful end to the semester.
"I hope that the kids arrested get the proper counseling and encouragement that they need to know that, you don't need to do this to know that you're loved," Cagle said.
Experts said parents at home need to talk with their kids about the seriousness of threats like this.
In Texas, threats- whether kids think it's a joke or not- are a class A misdemeanor that can be punishable with jail time.
