Following the devastating Oxford High School shooting earlier this week, several schools across Southeast Michigan are increasing police presence or temporarily closing their buildings as they deal with their own threats.
A 15-year-old student at Oxford High School, Ethan Crumbley, was arraigned as an adult Wednesday on several charges in the fatal shooting of four fellow students, in addition to shooting and injuring seven other people.
Officials say that after a school shooting occurs in a community, similar threats often pop up at nearby schools and districts.
Oxford High School has closed for the remainder of the week following the tragedy. Some nearby schools and districts are adjusting their operations in response to threats aimed at their schools.
View: The full list of school closures
As of Thursday, Dec. 2, the following schools are still open but with increased police presence:
- Eisenhower High School
- Fraser Schools
- Grosse Pointe Public Schools
- Plymouth-Canton Community Schools (P-CCS) -- early dismissal now planned for Plymouth-Canton Educational Park (P-CEP) at 9:30 a.m. Thursday.
“While our local law enforcement agencies have determined that there is no direct threat at Plymouth-Canton Educational Park (Canton HS, Plymouth HS, Salem HS) today, we are planning an early dismissal for P-CEP at 9:30 a.m.,” reads a statement from P-CCS. “The fear and anxiety at the P-CEP campus has caused significant disruption to the learning environment, resulting in this decision to dismiss early. If your student rode the bus to school this morning, they will be transported home. All other P-CCS elementary and middle schools will continue as scheduled today. Throughout the evening, we have been working in cooperation with the Canton Township Police Department to investigate several social media posts involving threats of violence at P-CEP. These disturbing posts have been circulated among P-CEP students and appear to be re-posts from other areas. Canton PD has been in contact with regional law enforcement officials throughout the night and have interviewed many P-CCS students relating to these posts. We take every threat of violence very seriously and will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate all rumors. As we communicated yesterday, it is not uncommon for these types of rumors to circulate following a tragic school event. We will continue to have an increased police presence at all of our schools throughout the remainder of the week.”
On Dec. 2, the following schools and districts are closed:
- American International Academy (Westland, Inkster buildings switched to virtual learning for the rest of the week)
- Armada Area Schools
- Avondale School District
- Bloomfield Hills School District
- Bradford Academy
- Brandon School District
- Cedar Crest Academy / Early Child Center
- Clarenceville School District
- Clarkston Community Schools (closed Thursday and Friday)
- Clawson Public Schools
- Clintondale Community Schools
- Cranbrook schools
- DeLaSalle Collegiate High
- Detroit Catholic Central High
- Everest Academy
- Everest Collegiate High
- Farmington Public Schools (high schools only)
- FlexTech High School - Novi
- Hazel Park Schools
- Holly Area Schools (closed Thursday and Friday)
- Huron Valley Schools
- Keys Grace Academy
- Lake Orion Community Schools
- Lamphere Public Schools
- Madison District Public Schools - Oakland
- Novi Community School District
- Rochester Community Schools
- South Lyon Community Schools
- Troy School District
- Walled Lake Consolidated School District
- Warren Consolidated Schools
- Waterford School District
- West Bloomfield School District
One thing that always happens after attacks like we saw in Oxford is a sudden increase in social media threats. It is important to know that police agencies take these threats seriously. 1/ pic.twitter.com/CPMT42hvfD
— MSP Metro Detroit (@mspmetrodet) December 2, 2021
The FBI issued a statement Thursday saying the agency is aware of school threats being made on social media.
“The FBI is aware of recent threats made on area schools,” the statement reads. “We remain in close coordination with our law enforcement partners and are using all our available resources to assist them.
“As always, we encourage the public to remain vigilant and to promptly report suspicious activities which could represent a threat to public safety. If you have any information about a threat, we encourage you to call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit tips online at https://tips.fbi.gov.”
More: Oxford High School shooting: Students share their stories of survival and loss