KINGSVILLE, Texas — Just hours after the school shooting in Georgia last week, the Kingsville Police Department had to deal with reports of threats made to two schools in the area.
KPD and KISD worked together to prevent a threat from becoming something more serious and keep everyone on campuses safe this week.
A 14-year-old made several verbal and text-based threats in regard to committing a shooting at H.M. King High School and Gillett Intermediate School.
Kingsville Police Department Commander Bradley Lile said the police searched the teen's room at home and no weapons were found. The teen was charged with false alarm or report and is now at the San Patricio Juvenile Center while the investigation continues.
"Kingsville PD was alerted to a student making threats, both verbally and by text message. We acted quickly and alerted the school district," Lile said. "Officers ascended to the kid's residence and took him in quickly."
Once the teen was taken into custody, Kingsville Superintendent Dr. Cecilia Reynolds-Perez informed the parents.
"As soon as we get facts about it. The way that I handle it and many districts do the same thing, is I send out a robocall that evening. It was later than I would normally send it but that's because it just happened to get the information, at that time and I wanted to make sure the student was in custody and I was able to let the parents know that their children are safe," Dr. Reynolds-Perez said.
Dr. Reynolds-Perez said threats like these could be minimized if there were more mental-health resources available to students but a lack of state funding makes it difficult to provide these resources at school.
"But the lack of resources in schools for mental health is its I can't even think of a word," Dr. Reynolds-Perez said. "It's unbelievable that we are not addressing students' needs this way."
Dr. Reynolds-Perez said she is thankful for the person who informed KPD about the threats made against the schools.
"If you see something, say something to someone immediately because that's what can prevent things like this from happening," Dr. Reynolds-Perez.