DENVER -- A student is in police custody after posting a threat of violence against a Jefferson County school on social media.
JeffCo Public Schools said the district received several reports about the threat against Bear Creek High School late Tuesday night. Officials said the threat was posted on social media but they did not provide any further details.
The student in custody has not been identified.
School will take place as usual on Wednesday but extra security will be on campus as a precaution.
This development comes just one day after a violent threat was made against another school in the county.
A threat prompted extra security at Grandview High School in the Cherry Creek School District on Wednesday. Police didn't provide any details but said they're taking the threat seriously and the department is "actively and aggressively" investigating.
"I think what's unique about it right now is the sheer amount of these threats that are coming out of the metro area," Aurora Police Officer Bill Hummel said.
These are brazen threats; promises of death and destruction.
"These types of threats towards schools, or any kind of violence towards schools is a very serious crime and can actually reach felony levels," Hummel added.
Social media has fueled a lot of these local threats.
Hummel added, "There's social media platforms, there's video games. These sorts of threats are making it to all these different platforms."
It's not just a Colorado problem, police are seeing threats being made across the country.
"This is a very serious matter. It's something that scares a lot of people, and it's not the way to get attention," he said.
"Anxiety is kind of infectious," Dr. Shawn Worthy told Denver7.
Dr. Worthy is a Human Services and Counseling professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver.
He isn't examining who's behind the threats. Instead, he's examining why people are making these threats to begin win.
"I think there are three potential reasons that someone would call in a threat," he said.
He said the most serious are copycat threats.
"Another potential reason to make that kind of threat would be to get attention," Worthy added it doesn't matter whether that attention is good or bad.
The third reason is something we've heard before, "Sometimes they see things that are very serious as a joke."
However, no one is laughing.
We've seen shooting tragedies unfold here in Colorado and the threats are very real.
Wednesday's threats are just the latest in a string of recent threats against Colorado schools following the deadly mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Three other students face misdemeanor charges for threats made in the past week.
If you think there's suspicious activity around you, make a report using your smartphone by downloading the Safe2Tell Colorado mobile app from the Apple Store or Google Play or by calling 1-877-542-7233 to speak to a live, trained dispatcher.
