Police in northern California says that a possible shooting at school was avoided due to an entry line that led to the arrest of a student who shared online questionable material.
The police in Menlo-Atherton received advice from their line of advice “say something” on September 10 that indicated that a former student in a high school in the area had published about the Instagram content referring to high school.
Police closed the Menlo-Atherton high school campus, in addition to a nearby intermediate school for an hour until the student was located and weapons were recovered from the house. The investigation is ongoing, according to the police.
“Say Something” is an anonymous reporting system created by Sandy Hook Promise, a Connecticut -based organization that advocates solutions to armed violence in schools. The organization said that the Menlo-Atherton incident is the 19th “credible school attack” throughout the country “that the system has avoided since its launch in 2018. Around 5,000 school districts are associated with the organization and tips are accepted through a mobile application, text, telephone or a website.
Sandy Hook’s promise “Hope Bear” and “Memorial Bear” are exhibited during his artist for action event during the SXSW 2025 conference and festival in Empire Control Room & Garage. March 11, 2025, in Austin, Texas.
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Jarrett Dooley, Executive Director of Student Services of the Sequoia Union Secondary School District, which includes the Menlo-Atherton School, said in a statement that it is “grateful” that the entrance line “resulted in a rapid action by the administrators of the local law and school administrators to keep all students, staff and members of the community safe.”
The CEO of Sandy Hook Promise, Nicole Hockley, praised the Student Tipster for her actions.
“Sometimes we receive hundreds of tips on a potential threat. Other times, as we saw in California during this incident, only one is needed,” he said in a statement. “At a time when many feel helpless against armed violence, the courage of this student demonstrates that each of us has the ability to make a difference. Armed violence is not inevitable, it is preventable, and prevention begins when we recognize the signs and take measures.”
Hockley was the mother of a victim in Sandy Hook.
Sandy Hook Promise says that the main warning signs for potential violence in a school include bullying, withdrawal of friends or activities, chronic social isolation, direct threats against a place, a person or themselves, boast of access to weapons, obsession with violent online content, cruelty towards animals and recruit others for an attack.
The incident took place on the same day as a massive shooting in Evergreen, Colorado, where a 16 -year -old shooter shot two students and then. The two students were critical later. The school reopened this week for classes.
