New Buffalo Area Schools closed due to threats made by student
NEW BUFFALO, Mi. -- New Buffalo Area Schools were shut down today after the FBI contacted New Buffalo Police after seeing some threatening posts being made on social media made by student-- prompting an immediate investigation by the FBI, New Buffalo Police and the Berrien County Sheriff's Department.
Superintendent Dr. Jeff Leslie was notified about the threats just after 6:30am.
“I hadn’t seen what those posts were, but it was serious enough for the FBI to contact our local police," Leslie said. “We had to make some decisions about closing down schools, just so we could make sure everything was safe for the students and the staff.”
Leslie hoped it would only be a two hour delay for the start of classes-- but as law enforcement officers began to thoroughly search all New Buffalo schools with bomb sniffing K-9 units-- he was told they wouldn't be able to complete the search in that little time, so he made the tough call to shut down schools for the day.
“It wound up working out for the best, cause then they could take their time and they ended up taking the dogs through every part of the building," said Leslie.
The all-clear was given around 10:20am.
The student who made the threats was interviewed by police-- though it is currently unclear whether or not they are in custody or if they are facing charges.
Despite a chaotic morning-- Leslie is relieved the situation has been resolved.
“The building’s safe, all of our kids are safe," he said. "It’s nice to see the coordination between the different law enforcement agencies, how well they work together, their level of communication. They’re very professional. They did a great job this morning of taking charge of the situation, so it went about as well as I could hope.”
According to New Buffalo Police, the investigation is still ongoing-- but there are no arrests to report just yet.
Leslie says now, his next step is going to be talking with his students to make sure they understand what happened, and the consequences of making such threats on social media.