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The police response resulted from an incident in Putnam County on Thursday, March 14 around 7:45 a.m., when the school resource officer assigned to Brewster High School learned of a threatening message regarding a possible shooting that was posted on social media, the Putnam County Sheriff's Office said on Monday, March 18.
Sheriff's deputies immediately responded to the school and enforced a lockout at all Brewster schools while the threat was investigated. Authorities then worked with the district's information technology staff to determine where the threat had originated.
Eventually, investigators determined the threat had originally come from a school district in the state of Washington with a similar sounding name to Brewster. This threat had been reposted on social media by local Brewster students, according to the Sheriff's Office.
Authorities then confirmed with the local police department in Washington that they had investigated a similar threat the day before and had arrested a suspect in their area in connection with it.
Following the incident, the Sheriff's Office urged district parents to talk to their children about what they repost on social media.
"Parents are encouraged to speak with their children and remind them of the panic that can ensue when they share messages from unknown sources," the Sheriff's Office said.
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