Students at McDevitt Middle School in Waltham will be subject to heightened security measures on Monday after officials learned of multiple threats of a shooting at the school circulating on social media.
Police will be assigned to each floor and “every corner” of the building and backpacks will be barred from campus, officials say. Any backpacks brought to the school will be searched by police, Superintendent of Schools Marisa Mendonsa and Police Chief Kevin O’Connell said in a joint statement.
“While we are confident in the steps being taken to address the threat, we encourage everyone to remain vigilant and to report any suspicious activity or concerns immediately,” the statement reads. “We understand that this may be a stressful situation for many, and we appreciate your cooperation and support.”
On Sunday, a K-9 unit from the Northeast Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council conducted a “thorough sweep” of the interior and exterior of the school as a precautionary measure. No weapons were discovered during that search, Mendonsa and O’Connell wrote in a separate statement.
And while the social media threats were specifically targeted to McDevitt, officials say school resource officers will be present at other schools throughout the district.
Officials said it was not immediately clear whether or not the threats on Snapchat were connected to a “security concern” the school’s principal warned of on Friday.
Waltham police are working with the school, Snapchat and federal law enforcement to “identify and address the individual responsible for these threats.”
