A woman who allegedly made threats against a Gold Coast school on Tuesday, forcing it into lockdown twice, has been charged.
Upper Coomera State College received two threats via social media, and staff put the school into lockdown once in the morning and again in the afternoon before police determined the threats were a hoax.
A 36-year-old woman from Upper Coomera was charged on Wednesday with using a carriage service to menace or harass, wilful disturbance at an educational facility and fraud, and will face the Southport Magistrates Court on June 28.
Posts shared to Facebook threatening Upper Coomera State College
Upper Coomera State College received two threats via social media, and staff put the school into lockdown once in the morning and again in the afternoon before police determined the threats were a hoax
Police have charged a woman who allegedly made threats against a Gold Coast school on Tuesday, forcing it into lockdown twice
Upper Coomera State College on the Gold Coast was put in a precautionary lockdown at 1.30pm on Tueaday, less than two hours after the previous lockdown was removed.
A post shared to Facebook on Tuesday morning read: ‘I’m shoot the f***ing school tomorrow, got a gun. This will be nothing on Colombians k***s’.
The first post was accompanied with a rambling 3am post with a photo of a gun.
The gun in the post appears to be a stock image readily found online.
Parents were sent a terrifying text message alert after the first alleged threat informing them the school was in ‘voluntary lockdown’.
The first lockdown was ruled a hoax by police about midday, but parents were told they could take their children home.
Police arrived at the school on Tuesday and confirmed they were investigating an alleged threat.
Upper Coomera State College on the Gold Coast sent parents a text message saying the school was in ‘voluntary lockdown’ about 10.30am on Tuesday
‘UCSC has gone into voluntary lockdown as a precautionary measure until further notice,’ the message said, according to the Gold Coast Bulletin.
‘The safety of students and staff is our priority. Thank you.’
The sister of a Year 12 student at the school said she raced to the scene after hearing about the lockdown.
‘You hear about school shootings and stabbings, you don’t want to think about it but it happens. We’re not the US but it is scary,’ Carly Kendall said.
One parent said they heard the threats had been made by a Year 7 and a Year 9 student, but the reports were unconfirmed.
The school (location pictured) was taken off lockdown about midday only to be locked down again at 1.30pm
Another concerned parent, who said he was ‘petrified’, believed the alleged threat to the school originated online.
‘I heard it’s just kids mouthing off on social media,’ Warren Priddis said.
The alleged threat comes less than a week after another Queensland school was rocked by the threat of a mass shooting.
The incident is the latest in a series of alleged bomb and shooting threats in the region, and three teenage boys have been charged over some of the alleged threats.
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