Student responsible for Friday threat at Marquette High School ID’d, district says

ST. LOUIS (KMOV) – The Rockwood School District has identified the student responsible for the threat that caused Marquette High School to evacuate Friday.

The Rockwood School District dismissed students at the school early Friday to investigate a threat that had been AirDropped to students’ phones. After students received the threat, they reportedly ran to show school officials, and dozens of police cars swarmed the school shortly before noon.

“We have concerns,” Curtis Cain, Superintendent of Rockwood Public Schools, told News 4 Friday. “We want our kids to feel holistically safe when they walk into any building in this district and I will tell you we will not rest until we’re in a position to do that.”

Cain said if it requires the school district, along with its partners, to knock on doors to perform wellness or safety checks with students, they’ll do so.

“We’re always going to take these threats seriously,” Cain said.

The Rockwood School District said around 11 a.m. Friday, students told a teacher about an image with text on it that was AirDropped to multiple students’ phones. According to the district, the message referenced Thursday’s bomb threat at the school and said “it wasn’t a joke,” and indicated the person was at the school Friday with “something I can aim with while you run in fear.”

Additionally, district officials said the threat was very specific, detailing a floor number, classroom number and start time of noon. Rockwood administrators said they immediately contacted Chesterfield Police, who arrived on scene along with other municipalities, including the Missouri State Highway Patrol. The decision was then made to evacuate the school.

“It was really chaotic, some people were sprinting, cutting in between buses, it was a mess,” said junior Owen Alexander.

Students said the threat was announced during a lunch period, sending some students running from the cafeteria into the hallways, while others exited their classrooms and headed for the front doors.

“It was honestly quite scary running through the halls because you don’t know if its real,” said junior Jillian Thompson. “You think it’s not real, but there’s so many students, you start to think, maybe it is real.”

Students News 4 spoke to said they feel safe at the high school and could not recall another time when two back-to-back threats resulted in the school being dismissed early. However, they said the recent school shooting in south St. Louis has them on high alert.

“I mean I will be a little on edge, I’m not going to lie, to come into the building next week,” said junior Jack Knese.

Rockwood Schools said at 2:30 p.m. Friday, it was given the “all clear” by police and no weapons were found on campus. Chesterfield Police are following up on potential leads and the district said anyone found to be responsible will face disciplinary actions as well as possible criminal charges.

Tuesday, the school district announced the student responsible for Friday’s threat had been identified.

Regarding Thursday’s threat, the district said in an earlier statement that the student responsible has been identified.

“We are pleased to share that the student responsible for the social media post that resulted in Marquette needing to be evacuated on Thursday has been identified. We are continuing to work with law enforcement to actively investigate today’s events. Thank you again for your understanding and support as we work to keep our students and staff safe at school.”

Neither student’s name has been released.

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