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Oxnard Junior High School on alert after reported shooting threat

Superintendent: Threat not credible, apparently intended to “create panic”

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The Oxnard Police Department is stationing additional officers at EO Green Junior High School this week after a Florida police department shared information about a shooting threat against the Oxnard school on social media.

Commander Luis Mc Arthur said Monday that the Miami Gardens Police Department, which is north of Miami, contacted Oxnard police Monday morning with information about the threat, which included EO Green on a list of 25 schools.

Of the schools on the list, Mc Arthur said, 11 are in the Miami area and 14 are outside Florida. Many of the schools on the list have been victims of high-profile shootings in the recent past, the police chief said. EO Green himself experienced tragedy in 2008, when a student named Brandon McInerny shot and killed his classmate Larry King.

More: 10 years after the murder of Larry King, EO Green Junior High is experiencing a change in school culture

The reported threat came days after a 14-year-old student opened fire at Apalachee High School in rural Georgia, killing two students and two teachers.

EO Green school administration sent two communications to families on Monday, including a morning message informing them of the threat and increased police presence.

Later that day, Christine Walker, superintendent of the Hueneme Elementary School District, sent a follow-up letter saying the threat was not credible and appeared to be designed to “stir up panic in school communities that have experienced tragedy in the past.”

“We felt it was important to be transparent with our community and communicate quickly,” she said. “If the post had been deemed credible and not a hoax, the class would have been canceled.”

Walker listed a number of infrastructure and policy changes the district has made over the past decade to protect EO Green and other campuses from the threat of active shooters.

In a phone call Monday afternoon, Walker said the middle school was also temporarily conducting backpack checks.

“We want to proceed with extreme caution,” she said.

Mc Arthur said police have also held precautionary discussions with other local school districts in their jurisdiction, including the Oxnard, Rio and Oxnard Union High school districts, and instructed officers to pay special attention to school grounds during their patrols.

Isaiah Murtaugh covers education for the Ventura County Star in partnership with Report for America. Reach him at [email protected] or 805-437-0236 and follow him on Twitter @jesajamurtaugh And @SubscribeYou can support this work with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America..

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