Suspect in custody after mass shooting threat prompts at least 8 Missouri school districts to cancel summer school classes

A suspect who allegedly made a mass shooting threat that prompted the cancellation of summer school events in a number of Missouri school districts Wednesday is in custody, the Blue Springs, Missouri, police department said in a news release.

Charges are pending with the local prosecutor’s office, the statement said.

Police received a report around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday about a suspicious Snapchat post, the statement said, in which someone made a comment threatening “killing people — mass murdering.” According to police, a location for the threat was not specified.

“There is no threat to the public and as in all threats of violence, our top priority is to keep the community safe,” Blue Springs Police said.

[Previous story, published at 9:23 a.m. ET]

At least eight school districts in the Kansas City, Missouri, area have canceled summer school activities on Wednesday after a local police department said it learned of a shooting threat, as communities across the US remain on edge following a series of high-profile mass shootings.

The spate of closures began Tuesday night with the Blue Springs School District in Blue Springs, Missouri, about 20 miles east of Kansas City. The school district announced it was canceling activities “out of an abundance of caution” after Blue Springs police “alerted the FBI of a possible threat related to an unspecific mass shooting.”

“The FBI has confirmed that the individual in question whose whereabouts are unknown is dangerous,” the school district, which serves more than 14,000 students, said in a statement on Facebook.

“We believe the best course of action is to close our summer school sites and all school programming until further notice,” it said.

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In their own statements, some of the districts noted they did not have any information indicating the threat was related to their respective school communities. But they, like Blue Springs, opted to cancel activities Wednesday out of an abundance of caution.

The Blue Springs Police Department learned of the threat Tuesday evening, it said in a statement, adding it was “working with other law enforcement agencies to locate the individual who made the general threat.”

The FBI confirmed it had been made aware of the threat by Blue Springs police in a statement to CNN but directed further questions to that department, which is the lead investigative agency.

“We take all threats of violence seriously and work with our local partners to provide resources as needed,” the FBI statement said.

CNN’s Chris Boyette contributed to this report.

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