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Police React Quickly To Possible Gun Threat In Canyons District

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Just a week after the deadly shooting at a Florida high school, a student from Eastmont Middle School in Sandy took to Instagram. He was upset that a friend of his had been expelled and wrote that he was angry enough to bring a gun to school.

Shortly after the student posted the message on Tuesday night, police were at his door.

 

“In this particular case, a very alert parent contacted Sandy police because they had seen this language online and police immediately acted on it," said Jeff Haney, spokesperson for Canyons School District in Salt Lake County.

 

It was after midnight when the police showed up at the boy’s home. Together with district officials, they concluded the threat was not credible and a warning was sufficient.

 

There was some panic once students and parents got wind of this the next morning. Some felt the district didn’t share enough information and were anxious that no school-wide intervention was taken. Haney says it’s delicate balance.

The district is encouraging all students to download and use the SafeUT app to anonymously inform administrators about worrisome behavior.

Lee Hale began listening to KUER while he was teaching English at a Middle School in West Jordan (his one hour commute made for plenty of listening time). Inspired by what he heard he applied for the Kroc Fellowship at NPR headquarters in DC and to his surprise, he got it. Since then he has reported on topics ranging from TSA PreCheck to micro apartments in overcrowded cities to the various ways zoo animals stay cool in the summer heat. But, his primary focus has always been education and he returns to Utah to cover the same schools he was teaching in not long ago. Lee is a graduate of Brigham Young University and is also fascinated with the way religion intersects with the culture and communities of the Beehive State. He hopes to tell stories that accurately reflect the beliefs that Utahns hold dear.
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