Unfounded threats cause frustration among Northland residents

Two school shooting threats were reported in Missouri Thursday—one in Kansas City and one in Plattsburg.

Both turned out to be just a hoax but as swatting calls continue to increase across the country, so does the emotional and financial impact.

“As a parent, you can never be too cautious," said Matthew Raevalo, a Park Hill parent. “I panicked, started letting other parents know.”

A report by TDR Technology Solutions found that 16 million students have been impacted by school threats, costing taxpayers over $1 billion in the last two years. Just 5 years ago, they averaged 29 threats a month. Last year, that number jumped to 785 threats a month.

These types of threats usually come from one of three sources: a student who attends the school, a person associated with a national group that attacks schools nationwide, or foreign actors. The latter was the case for the shooting reported here in Kansas City.

“That’s really scary," said John Graff, a resident. "Crazy it came from overseas. I wonder what their agenda was.”

Don Beeler, the CEO of TDR Technology Solutions, said there’s only so much local law enforcement can do in cases like this.

“Difficult because some of them are in countries that don't cooperate with the US so we know who these people are, we know their names, we know the groups they're in, we know their addresses," said Beeler. "But the local country will not cooperate. So, in some cases, even though the FBI knows who it is, there's nothing they can do about it.”

The motive behind the threat is unclear but TDR says foreign threats are often politically motivated or driven by criminal intentions against the United States.

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