ASHWAUBENON, WI (WTAQ) – Ashwaubenon School District issued a lockdown Wednesday, responding to a school shooting threat. The district was listed on a Snapchat as one of multiple schools in Brown County that would have a school shooting on Wednesday.
Schools in Green Bay, West De Pere and Oneida Districts were also included.
Police started investigating, but Green Bay Police Captain Kevin Warych said the investigation is tough based on how Snapchat works.
“Snapchat is very difficult because those post expire, but were are doing everything and anything we can to find the origin of that post.”
On Wednesday, Green Bay Police had officers at the Green Bay School District Schools.
Ashwaubenon Public Safety and the Ashwaubenon School District collectively decided lockdown would be the best answer. Captain Jody Crocker of Ashwaubenon Public Safety said today, you can never be too cautious.
“We collectively agreed that the best course of action was to put the school in lockdown until we could get a better handle of what the situation really is.”
Crocker said each school district and police department makes their decision on how to respond. While Ashwaubenon responded with a lockdown, Crocker said given the situation, it was agreed that it would be the most cautious option.
“If anyone were to think that we overreacted, at least we overreacted on the side of child safety. I don’t think anyone would fault us for that.”
The lockdown was lifted after about an hour, but police are still investigating who sent the message.
Green Bay Area Public School District says its schools never went on lockdown.
The Green Bay Police Department said the threats made were not specific in nature. They said they did not have a specific or credible confirmation of any actual threat or plan, but as a precaution, they had extra police presence in and around area schools.
Anyone with specific information on these or other school related threats is highly encouraged to contact their local law enforcement agency.
