Minnesota urged to adopt stronger school threat alerts post-Annunciation shooting

Minnesota considers stronger school threat alerts

A new bill in Minnesota would require schools to promote or create threat reporting programs as parents and victims of the Annunciation Church mass shooting are frustrated by the lack of support for new gun safety laws. FOX 9’s Corin Hoggard has the latest details.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Parents and victims of the Annunciation Church mass shooting are voicing their frustration over the lack of support for significant new gun safety laws in Minnesota, but a Sandy Hook mother may succeed on a much smaller scale.

Efforts for anonymous threat reporting

What we know:

Nicole Hockley, whose son Dylan was one of the victims at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, is advocating for a strong, anonymous school threat reporting system. She believes this could prevent future tragedies by alerting schools and law enforcement to potential threats early on.

Hockley's organization, Sandy Hook Promise, has developed a system called "Say Something," which they say has prevented over 1,200 youth suicides and averted more than 300 weapon-related attacks.

Law enforcement studies indicate that about three-quarters of mass shooters show warning signs before committing acts of violence, suggesting that intervention could be possible.

Minnesota's current efforts

Dig deeper:

Minnesota joined the "See It, Say It, Send It" app in 2021, aimed at reporting threats to schools or religious facilities. The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) has a team dedicated to analyzing these threat reports.

Why you should care:

A new bill proposes that school districts should promote this app or develop similar programs. However, some school leaders believe the bill lacks clear standards for threat evaluation and coordination between schools and law enforcement.

Rick Kaufman from the Association of Metropolitan School Districts emphasized the need for quick information sharing through reporting systems to allow timely risk assessment and intervention.

"It is critical that information submitted through a reporting system reaches school professionals quickly, enough for them to assess risk and intervene. That's not happening now," he said on Monday.

What we don't know:

The bill currently does not include funding for implementing these programs, raising concerns about its effectiveness and reach.