Snow Canyon and Other Schools issued threat in Washington County

Police across Washington County are investigating a threat issued to Snow Canyon High School through dispatch on September 27 around noon.

Public Information Officer Tiffany Mitchell from the St. George Police Department issued a statement through a livestream on Facebook detailing the situation.

Officer Mitchell said, “We had a phone call into our dispatch center giving a threat to Snow Canyon High School.”

This phone call brought an increased presence from police, not just at Snow Canyon High School, but at schools across the Washington County School District.

Officer Mitchell said, “What we can tell you is that we’re looking into that threat. The phone number was a Google phone number which is hard to track. We’re not sure that it’s in state or out of state at this point. We are treating this as a viable threat. We do have a heightened security at all the schools within the St. George City, more so here at Snow Canyon because the threat was based toward this school.

If you have a child attending school today in Washington County, Officer Mitchell has advised all parents to wait as they investigate the threat, and to not come to the high school.

Officer Mitchell said, “We’re asking that parents at this point not come down to the schools. It would just add some chaos, but we’re handling it, we’re here, we’re keeping the kids safe. We appreciate your cooperation. We’ve been in touch with the school district. They are going to be putting out a statement to all the parents.

Officer Mitchell closed the livestream by reaffirming that the SGPD is doing their best to get down to the bottom of the possible threat.

For the most up to date information on the situation, be sure to follow the St. George Police Department Facebook page to stay on the top of this possible danger to students in Washington County.

Update: 1:36 p.m.

Officer Mitchell released an update on the situation. The phone number that made the threat has been connected to string of swatting incidents.

Swatting is when someone makes fake threats to lead the SWAT team to mobilize at locations, sometimes endangering the lives of others in the process. It's a crude pranking scheme essentially.

Officer Mitchell then went on to thank the community for their patience.