COLUMBUS, Ind. – The Columbus Police Department (CPD) released another update Sunday afternoon on its inquiry into the Parkside Elementary School shooting threat that was uncovered Friday evening, September 13.
Here is the CPD media release sent Sunday at 3:30 p.m.
“CPD and our community continue to make school safety a top priority. All students deserve to learn in a safe and nurturing environment. Many of our officers have children and family attending or working within our schools. CPD has an extensive history of working with the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation (BCSC) to provide that safe environment, even before we started a full-time School Resource Officer (SRO) Program in 2014. Our officers routinely conduct school security checks outside of the 5 full-time SROs assigned to BCSC schools.
On September 13th, 2024, we immediately began to investigate when it was reported to us that there was a shooting threat being sent through social media about Parkside Elementary School. That investigation is still ongoing. The information provided leads us to believe the threat was communicated by an elementary school student. With the investigation still ongoing and the age of the involved parties, we can only release limited information. We can say that the student will not be attending school while we work with BCSC and the Bartholomew County Prosecutor’s Office to determine the best course of action at the conclusion of the investigation.
With the protection of our schools being our number one focus, we will have additional SROs at Parkside Elementary School. Collaborating with the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office and the Indiana State Police, we have reallocated resources to ensure the security of all Bartholomew County Schools.
It’s important to note that we are not the only community experiencing these types of threats for Monday. We have and will continue to address these threats with the utmost seriousness. In alignment with national best practices, we must not let a person’s careless actions or words detract from all the work our community is doing to provide the best learning environment for our children.”
Click here for the statement from the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation.
