Social media threat locks down Maize High School

Maize High School was under “modified lockdown” for a short time Thursday morning after someone threatened a group of students via a post on social media, district officials said.

“Instead of the kid saying, ‘I’m going to beat you up,’ they made a more serious threat,” Maize Superintendent Chad Higgins said.

A parent contacted the Maize High principal and showed a post on popular website, saying “This is what my child showed me on social media. I’m going to keep him home today,” Higgins said.

The principal then notified police, school staff and the superintendent and ordered the modified lockdown. Students were kept in their classrooms and entrances secured while the threat was investigated, Higgins said.

The person who made the threat was identified and taken into custody. Higgins would not say whether the suspect is a student at the school.

The modified lockdown was lifted shortly before 9 a.m., said Lori O’Toole Buselt, director of communications for the school district.

“The potential risk has been resolved,” Buselt said in a statement.

The threat posted on social media was “against specific students at Maize High School,” Buselt said in a previous statement issued by the district shortly after 8:30 a.m.

An online post leading up to the threat covered a number of issues, among them the Confederate flag, Buselt said.

“They tried to make a statement or make a point about their pride” in the flag, Higgins said of the students who were threatened.

The Confederate flag has become a flashpoint of controversy in the wake of the killing of nine people at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., on June 17. The accused gunman, Dylann Roof, posed for pictures online with the flag.

The flag, seen by many as a symbol of hate and segregation and by others as a symbol of Southern pride, was removed from South Carolina’s capitol grounds less than a month after the church shootings. Texas has refused to issue license plates showing the flag.

“We believe this is an isolated, specific event,” Buselt said of the Maize High threat.

The district’s other schools followed normal protocols on Thursday, she said.

This story was originally published September 3, 2015 at 9:06 AM with the headline "Social media threat locks down Maize High School."