Anchorage police arrested a third student Wednesday over threats written on a school bathroom wall, this time at Service High.
Staff at Service discovered a school shooting threat on the wall in the boy’s bathroom Nov. 15. Resource officers reviewed surveillance footage and interviewed students, identifying a male student as a suspect.
The latest arrest is the third in as many days, coming amid a flurry of threats against schools in the Anchorage School District. A student at Bartlett High was arrested Tuesday over similar threats, and a Begich Middle School student was arrested on Monday for threats made there. Both students were female.
Threats have also been reported at Dimond High School and Hanshew Middle School. ASD spokeswoman Catherine Esary said Wednesday Hanshew is taking extra safety measures while police investigate, including locking outside doors, locking a bathroom that doesn’t have camera coverage, and placing staff security in the halls.
Here is a timeline of the previous threats and arrests, according to the Anchorage Police Department.
• 7 a.m., Nov. 15. Service High School. School resource officers learn of a threatening message found in a boys’ bathroom, prompting an investigation. Police questioned and arrested a male student Wednesday, forwarding charges to prosecutors.
• 10 a.m., Nov. 16. Bartlett High School. A threat “about a shooting directed at the school” was found written on the wall of a girls’ bathroom. Police arrested a female student.
• Nov. 18. A Snapchat post regarding a school threat was shared among multiple Anchorage School District students. The message was “misinterpreted as a threat” against the district, according to police. The post originated outside of Alaska and had nothing to do with Anchorage schools, police concluded.
• 8 a.m., Nov. 19. Begich Middle School. School employees told police that someone wrote a threat regarding a shooting during the second period of classes, written on the wall of a girls’ bathroom. School staff identified the student responsible and she was taken into custody and sent to the McLaughlin Youth Center with criminal charges forwarded to prosecutors.