‘It doesn’t sound like a joke’: Student in St. Louis reports threat against Fairfield HS to FBI

A 20-year-old college student from St. Louis saw and reported to authorities the Instagram threat made against  Fairfield High School.

The sophomore at Maryville University said he saw the threat on Monday made on a meme page he follows on Instagram. He requested not to be identified for safety concerns.

“I just saw the comment and I read through it, and it was shocking,” he told the Journal-News. “I was like, ‘OK, this was extremely specific. It doesn’t sound like a joke.’”

INITIAL REPORT: Alleged Fairfield High School threat included reference to shotgun, caused increased police presence

“If I sit here and I don’t do anything, and I hear on the news that 15 kids died or something, I couldn’t live with myself,” he said.

On Tuesday morning, Fairfield School officials made public the social media threat, and Fairfield police confirmed they would work closely with the district to increase police presence at the school as investigators work “to determine who is responsible for the post and if the threat is credible.”

The college student immediately called the FBI tip line and reported the threat, and an agent called him about his report.

Reading the threat hit close to home, he said. His little brother’s high school had a threat made against it just a few months ago, he said. Police officers caught the alleged perpetrator, but threats also were made via social media.

“I saw the threat and it was extremely specific, like down to what guns, how many rounds and to where the last round was going — in himself,” he said. “I was like, ‘This is way too specific to be a joke.’ Nothing calls for this kind of comment to be made out of the blue.”

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The Instagram threat made against Fairfield High School, and the account it was made from, has been removed.

The post on Instagram reads: “If you’re from ohio and go to Fairfield High School, don’t come into school on February 15, 2019, gon be coming in wit a Remington 870, 12 gauge shotgun, 20 rounds last to go into me, good luck and until then :)”

Police say the case is still under investigation and won’t comment at this time on who made the threat or the motive behind the threat.

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