Fortuna High School on lockdown

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8:46 Lockdown has been lifted.



The incident involves a kid in Rio Dell. Rio Dell PD has the kid detained. Fortuna PD enroute to Rio Dell. Students still in rooms at school. It was report of a gun threat.

Sophomore male student still shaking after the threat is over said, "I don't want to be here."

Several reports that  "a kid on Snapchat  said "ready for school?" with a picture of a gun.

A community member got calls from other family members who heard about the threat. FPD responded promptly to ensure student safety.

8:58 : Fortuna PD tweets lockdown lifted.



Fortuna Police Department Press Release (11:38 a.m.):

On Monday morning, May 13, 2019 Fortuna Police Department received phone calls from parents of Fortuna High School students reporting a concerning image circulating on  a social media app., SnapChat. The message indicated a potential threat to an unspecified school in an unspecified area. Officers immediately began investigating.

Following the initial reports from parents, The Fortuna Police Department received an anonymous phone call, identifying an individual who they believed sent the Snapchat message and indicating the individual was headed to Fortuna High School.

Based off the facts that the SnapChat message was received by Fortuna High School students and the anonymous caller identified a subject as the sender and reported the subject was in route to Fortuna High School the Fortuna Police Department requested a lock-down at Fortuna High School as a precautionary measure while continuing to investigate.

The Fortuna Police Department received assistance from Rio Dell and Ferndale Police Departments.

The alleged sender was located and detained at a residence in Rio Dell. A Fortuna Police Department Detective investigated and found no credible threat associated with the subject and that the SnapChat message was only reposted by the subject. The lock-down was lifted and Fortuna Police Department Detective is continuing to investigate the origin of the SnapChat message.

The Fortuna Police Department and Fortuna High School take the safety and security of students and school staff very seriously. 

We remind our community that it is important to let us know anytime that a message of this nature is received so that a potential tragedy can be prevented.

This case remains under investigation, any further information will be released to the public as it becomes available to us.