Nearly a third of students stay home from middle school in Bonney Lake after online threats surface

BONNEY LAKE, Wash. — Fear of gun violence swept its way through Bonney Lake on Monday, with parents pulling their kids from Mountain View Middle School after rumors of threats targeting students circulated on social media.

“They’re all very scared and they don’t feel safe going to school. And neither do I. Most of them stayed home today, but I feel bad for the students that had to go to school today, with fear in them,” says Jillian, a Mountain View 7th grader.

Jillian alerted her mom Sunday night after she saw students posting online about potential threats.

“Last night, I saw on Instagram that kids were talking about a ‘kill list’ and like threats,” says Jillian.

She says she hasn’t seen the list of students who were being targeted but believes the list is real.

“Yes I do, and it’s very scary,” says Jillian.

Monday morning, parents received an email from the principal of Mountain View Middle School. It reads, in part:

‘We are aware of posts on social media regarding threats of violence against specific Mountain View students. We have been working with law enforcement since early this morning to address this.

As a precaution, we will have an increased police presence and supervision. There is no change to the school schedule and all activities will continue as normal.

The safety of our students and staff is our highest priority. We rely on students and families to stay vigilant in hearing and reporting information about any incident that could result in a threat to school safety.’

Hours later, the school told KIRO 7, ‘The district was made aware of the threats first thing this morning. We immediately contacted law enforcement and have been working together to investigate. There is no evidence that the threats are credible.’

On social media, the Bonney Lake Police Department writes ‘BLPD has been working closely with the Sumner School District to investigate the credibility of the threats and found them to be unsubstantiated at this time.’

Local parent Shannon Strickling disagrees with the school and police department’s assessment of the alleged threats.

“We have to protect these kids. I do not feel that the district or the police are taking this stuff seriously,” says Strickling. “I’m going to keep my daughter safe by keeping her home.”

Strickling was not alone. The district tells KIRO 7 that nearly a third of Mountain View Middle School students did not attend school on Monday - or were pulled out of school early.

The police department tells KIRO 7 they plan to continue their enhanced patrols outside the middle school, and will continue to investigate.

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