UPDATE: At 11:58 a.m. Monday, Principal Laganas let parents know via email and phone that the “person responsible” for the alleged threats was in custody and that there is no further threat to the school community. “The Haverhill Police Department in cooperation with Whittier Tech has identified the person who is responsible for the threatening text messages. The police department is 100 percent confident that they have the person responsible for ALL of these messages in custody,” he said. “As always, the safety of our students and staff is always our number one priority.”
Superintendent Maureen Lynch Monday afternoon said the alleged sender is a female student.
ORIGINAL STORY:
Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School has an increased police presence on campus Monday after Haverhill Police received word of two threats in 48 hours, including one in which a person threatened to “shoot up” the school.
Police were alerted to the first threat at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28 when a student said they received a Snapchat social media message from a person who did not identify Whittier Tech by name but threatened to commit an act of violence against that student’s school.
On Monday morning, Sept. 30, Whittier Tech parents received a recorded call from Principal Chris Laganas about a second threat made. That threat, made via Snapchat at 5:30 a.m. Monday, was not sent to the same student.
“These threats make us all anxious but know Whittier Tech and the Haverhill Police Department are doing all we can to ensure the safety of all our students and staff,” he said.