PINECREST, FLA. (WSVN) - Police are investigating menacing messages scrawled on the bathroom walls at a high school in Pinecrest that caused students to miss school and drew concern from their parents.
The walls and mirrors of a bathroom at Miami Palmetto Senior High School indicated that 19 people would be killed at the school on Friday.
On a stall door, someone wrote, “Tomorrow is the big day 19 people” and “19 people kill tomorrow Friday.”
Identical or similar messages were also written on the walls and mirrors.
Officials said they do not believe the threats are credible, but that did not stop some parents from keeping their children home.
“There weren’t a lot of people,” said a student.
“There was no one here today,” said student Angie Diaz.
The ominous scribblings led to a stepped up police presence on campus. Officials said the increase came out of an abundance of caution.
“Oh, no, no, no. It scared me,” said a parent.
“I was so scared, because it said, I don’t know, such a specific number of people,” said Diaz, “and I was thinking, like, ‘Is there a list or something?'”
Josh Juar, a student at the school, expressed his concerns.
“It does affect a lot of students’, like, learning experience, and a lot of students are worried about having to come to school, but Palmetto security is pretty good,” he said.
Parents said they were notified about a reported threat, but concerned mother Yesenia Palmer said no specific details were given. She said knowing the facts would have changed her mind about sending her daughter to school.
“She would have come to school today, for sure, because that [would have been] showing someone was physically in the school writing the message,” she said. “This is not something where it was just a copy and paste, and kids shared it, and it could have been from another state, which has happened before.”
Jaquelyn Calzadilla, an official for Miami Dade Public Schools, released the following statement:
“Miami-Dade County Public Schools is aware of an anonymous written message at Miami Palmetto Senior High School that is threatening in nature. Although there is no reason to believe this is a credible threat at this time, in an abundance of caution, Miami-Dade Schools Police have increased presence.”
Officials are investigating who wrote the messages.
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