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Recent school threats have parents on edge as they wonder what to do

Posted at 11:15 PM, Nov 14, 2022
and last updated 2022-11-14 23:15:45-05

FERNDALE, Mich. (WXYZ) — Another Oakland County school was forced to shut down after threats surfaced on social media. This time it was in Ferndale.

Anonymous posts made on Instagram detailed a threat to bring guns to school and even a list of targets. The student behind it has been arrested.

It prompted Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard to post a message on social media in response to the troubling trend.

"This community has been through too much real and otherwise over the past months to ever accept this behavior," he said in the short clip, "so please share this and take this to heart, if you see something say something."

Kristy Stoll has a son at Ferndale High School. She says all the kids on the hit list were his friends.

"I knew all the kids on the list so to speak and they are good kids," said Stoll, "it hits hard."

Stoll says she and her husband are relieved the person responsible is behind bars.

"I talked to my kids this evening and they both feel better about knowing someone was arrested and that it was a single person," said Stoll, "it wasn't some group of kids where maybe it could spiral out of control."

Threats have been rampant in school districts across metro Detroit.

Some cities like Eastpointe are even considering an ordinance to charge perpetrators for the resources it takes to respond.

Parent Mindy Domke was in Lansing when she first got the alerts. She says in the past she's contacted Ferndale school officials when her own child mentioned he heard a threat.

"It's a hard line because you want your kids to come to you, but at the time same time you have to make a judgment call and decipher through what your kids are telling you," said Domke, "What's important, what's not important."

Bouchard says his office is responding to at least one school threat every day.

He says all of them are important and will be investigated.