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EASTPOINTE — Several suspects have been identified after a social media threat involving Eastpointe High School earlier this month.
At approximately 11:35 a.m. June 7, Eastpointe police were dispatched to the school after a representative of the school had reported a student assaulting a teacher. According to a press release from the department, upon arrival, the teacher told officers that the incident was an accident.
However, another school attendant at that time stated that a female subject had just called the school and reported that there was an Instagram video showing a male student in one of the bathrooms with a handgun.
The caller stated that the student was then overtaken by several other students who were able to disarm him, the press release states. The group of students were reportedly teasing the male student for giving up the weapon. Police later found no evidence to support the caller’s assertions.
All Eastpointe officers, as well as officers from the Warren, St. Clair Shores, Hazel Park and Roseville police departments, placed the school on lockdown at approximately 11:54 a.m. before searching the roof and exterior of the school, as well as all classrooms, students, bags and lockers.
Initially, detectives found that the school’s security videos did not show any groups of students entering any bathrooms; however, Eastpointe Police Chief Matthew Hambright said that police were able to view a video on Instagram.
Hambright said charges may be brought against the student who called in the video for allegedly manipulating the situation. While the video was able to be traced back to the school, he said there was no gun shown.
Additionally, while investigating the initial threat, several other threats were called in to the school. Hambright believes it was students taking advantage of the confusion caused by the video.
“The ones that did that have been held accountable,” he said.
During the investigation, a bomb threat also was called in to a local bank. Hambright said detectives were still working to see if there was a connection to the threats at the school.
“We’ve identified a couple of students that are involved in it, and we’re still working on a connection to the bank, because the bank threats kept happening, so we’re trying to see if it’s all tied together,” he said.
