Investigators questioning Chaparral High student in connection to school threat

Investigators are interviewing a student at Chaparral High School as they investigate a shooting threat made against the school Tuesday morning.

Deputies with the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Department have placed students and staff at the school on lockdown. The threat level has been reduced to “shelter-in-place” and all students will be released at the normal dismissal time, officials said.

A parent who reportedly saw a text message on their child’s phone alerted the sheriff’s department, a spokeswoman with the sheriff’s office said. Deputies were then dispatched to the campus and the FBI was notified to investigate the origin of the threat.

“Detectives isolated the threat to a group of students that were part of a group message Tuesday morning,” officials said, “A student is being questioned, but has not been named a suspect. It is unclear if that student authored the text message, or if someone else was in possession of his phone.”

Earlier Tuesday, a spokesperson with the Gadsden Independent School District said the district takes these threats very seriously. “The District encourages parents and students to report these types of threats that are posted on various social media platforms,” the spokesman said, “Quick notification allows the District and campus administrators to immediately respond.”