West High, Iowa City police investigating threat allegations

IOWA CITY - Iowa City police and West High School officials are investigating allegations of threats made against the school last week.

West High Principal Gregg Shoultz said Monday that school officials learned last week about an alleged threat made on the social media app Snapchat.

'The nature of the threat was the student had been involved in a conflict and he was going to bring a gun to school,” Shoultz said.

However, Shoultz said school officials have had difficulty confirming the threat was actually made. Snapchat allows users to send photos and texts to other users that disappear after a short period of time. While screenshots can be taken of the messages, Shoultz said they have yet to speak with a student who saw the actual threat.

'Since nobody has seen the threat, nobody knows exactly what it said,” he said. 'We only have second- and third-hand knowledge of it. We have people repeating things.”

Shoultz said they spoke with the student who allegedly made the threat Friday morning and again Sunday night. He said the student denies making the threat. Shoultz said the student and his parents are cooperating with school officials.

'His parents have voluntarily agreed to keep him at home,” Shoultz said.

Iowa City Police Sgt. Scott Gaarde said officers are investigating the incident and have increased their presence at the school. Gaarde said police first heard about the allegations Friday night at the West High football game when officers working the game were approached by concerned students and parents.

'We learned that school officials had been made aware of the threats earlier in the week,” Gaarde said.

Gaarde said police are still determining whether the student had the capacity to carry out the alleged threat.

Shoultz said he sent messages to West High parents about the allegations Sunday and again Monday morning. He also addressed the student body about evaluating rumors before passing them on, but also making school officials aware of any threats.

Shoultz said he believes West High is safe.

'As I said in my note (to parents), my daughter is here at school today,” he said. 'I believe it's as safe here today as it was yesterday and will be tomorrow.”