Girl arrested for threat at KIPP Lynn charter

LYNN – A 17-year-old charter school student will be summonsed into Juvenile Court after police – for the third time in three days – responded to a report of a threatening message written inside a local school.Police did not identify the female student but said officers will seek to charge her with a charge of threat to commit a crime.Police Lt. Rick Donnelly said officers were called to the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) Academy Friday morning by school administrators, who said the threat was brought to their attention by students who viewed a picture of the writing on Snapchat, a social media outlet.The threat was written on a school desk Thursday and Police Chief Kevin Coppinger described the writing as a “threat of a shooting to occur in the school.”Donnelly said KIPP students identified the classmate responsible for writing the threat.Police responded to similar threats written in boys? bathrooms in English and Classical High schools.They were informed of the Classical threat Tuesday and learned of the English threat a day later.Both writings threatened shootings in the school Friday. The incidents are under investigation, Coppinger said.?Anybody who does this we will prosecute. We can?t have schools upset with these distractions,” Coppinger said.Police stated the English and Classical threats were not credible, but they responded to them with investigations and police presence in both schools.?We don?t believe any of these threats are linked, and these are copycat incidents,” Donnelly said.School start and dismissal times and school events proceeded as scheduled in Classical and English Friday. Two patrol officers were stationed in English?s lobby and Coppinger said a similar police presence was in force on Thursday at Classical.An irritated English Principal Thomas Strangie said the individuals responsible for the threats “wasted” Police Department time and manpower.” Coppinger said police are investigating “people of interest” in connection with the Classical and English threats.He said one bright spot illuminated officers? presence in the two schools: A Classical senior brought doughnuts to police stationed in the school on Friday.?In the middle of all of this, it was appreciated,” the chief said.