WASHINGTON — All Manassas Park City Schools were closed Friday and all classes went virtual after a Manassas Park High School student posted a threat against the school on social media on Thursday, according to Manassas Park Police.
The school system said the decision to do asynchronous learning Friday was out of an abundance of caution.
On Friday afternoon, police said a suspect was identified and located based on detectives tracking down Instagram accounts as well as IP addresses. A statement from Manassas Park police said the suspect, a 15-year-old boy, is a sophomore at Manassas Park high school.
The teen is charged with threats to kill. The statement also noted the parents of the juvenile were cooperating with police authorities and were making arrangements to turn him in.
The school alerted police to the threat around 9 p.m. Thursday after discovering a post circulating on social media regarding “shooting up the school tomorrow.”
The suspect was identified just after midnight, Manassas Park police said, and the teen and his parents were taken to police headquarters where he was interviewed.
During the interview, detectives determined that the threat was not credible and there was no danger to the school system or the community. Following the interview, with the cooperation of the suspect's parents, detectives searched the residence and did not locate a firearm.
Police are asking parents to stay vigilant and to always monitor their kids' social media channels. This also means discouraging them from posting threatening content online.