Alleged Allegan HS threat investigated

ALLEGAN, Mich. (WOOD) - Police in Allegan are investigating an alleged threat by a student to shoot up Allegan High School.

Rumors of the threats have been flying on Facebook in the past few days.

Allegan Police Chief Rick Hoyer told 24 Hour News 8 Tuesday that the situation began about two weeks ago when a 14-year-old student was heard talking in class about the prediction that the world will end at midnight on Dec. 21, 2012 -- a date that coincides with a significant date on an ancient Maya calendar -- and what he might do on that date.

Another student overheard that statement and took it as a threat. After the shooting of 26 people at a Connecticut elementary school Friday, the other student informed their parents of what the teen had said.

That's when rumors started flying on Facebook.

Among those rumors was something that was allegedly talked about on the student's Facebook page.

"Two to four individuals had stated that they were going to go into the high school on Friday and shoot up and kill as many kids as they could because the world was ending anyway," parent Amanda VanDusen told 24 Hour News 8.

24 Hour News 8 couldn't find any threats to the school on the Facebook page, but police and the school apparently had enough information to investigate the student.

Hoyer reiterated that police didn't find anything that constituted a crime. He did say that the student's parents do own guns and agreed to let police hold those weapons for safekeeping for the time being.

"This is no a joke. This is not something you can play with," said VanDusen. "It's a frenzy. Everybody is afraid."

Police said that it's up to the school now to determine if any disciplinary action is appropriate. 

"Student safety is number one all the time," said Allegan Superintendent Kevin Harness.

He said social media rumors are only investigated when there is a threat to the school, staff or students.

"Then we do investigate and take action depending on what the situation is," said Harness.

But Harness said social media can do more harm than good. He said it can cause concern that's unwarranted.

"Social media can be a tool but it can also be a detriment," said Harness. "One of the things we're dealing with right now is a lot of misinformation, a lot of rumor-sharing on social media that is hyped up or inaccurate and it causes a lot of concerns for our parents and our students falsely."

The superintendent and the parents of the student in question have agreed that it is in everyone's best interests that the student not attend school for the remainder of the week.

The school district is still investigating the incident but has not taken any official disciplinary action.

The police will pass the case on to the Allegan County Prosecutor's Office for review despite not finding anything criminal.