Police ID source of weekend shooting threat against McDevitt

By AUBREY HAWKE
Waltham Times Contributing Writer

The Waltham police chief and the city’s school superintendent on Monday evening announced that they had identified the source of a weekend threat against McDevitt Middle School and that the “investigation is still active and charges are pending.”

“The Waltham Police Department has identified the source of this threat as a juvenile student from Waltham. The threat was determined to be non-credible and there is no evidence of a shooting being planned or attempted,” the notice stated.

City officials continued: “We also addressed concerns circulating on social media about a perceived lack of presence of police at Waltham High School and whether their absence could lead to potential risks. It was always the plan for WHS School Resource Officers to remain at WHS and the Waltham Police Department placed additional officers due to these rumors circulating on social media. The WPD has confirmed that there was no credible threat to Waltham High School.”

The notice, which was posted on social media and distributed via email to the public school community, came after a tense day at the city’s schools following online threats that a shooting would take place at McDevitt. Those threats, which spread via social media app Snapchat over the weekend, left the community rattled. 

Dan Strafford, a father of three children in the city’s public schools, said he first heard about the threats Saturday night from a Waltham Police Department post. He said he spoke with his two older daughters on Sunday about the situation, adding that he let them decide whether to attend school on Monday. 

“In the end both of them decided, with anxiety and concern, that it was better to stay home,” Strafford said, noting that one daughter attends McDevitt, and the other is a high-schooler. 

Strafford said his youngest daughter, who attends Fitzgerald Elementary, attended school Monday.

Nancy Cotugno said she first heard about the threats when her daughter, a Waltham High student, received a warning about the threat on Snapchat. 

“Some of these kids were terrified, mine was one of them,” Cotugno said, pointing out that this was not the first threat of a school shooting in Waltham that her daughter has heard. 

Neither School Superintendent Marisa Mendonsa nor Waltham Police Chief Kevin O’Connell responded to Waltham Times reporter requests for additional comments.

However, they said in a statement on Sunday, “The safety of and well-being of our students, staff, and the entire school community are our top priorities.” 

They also detailed the additional safety measures implemented in the schools on Monday. Those measures included placing a police officer on every floor at McDevitt and increasing patrols around all Waltham schools. Additionally, McDevitt students were asked not to bring backpacks to school on Monday.

In their Monday evening announcement, Mendonsa and O’Connell said McDevitt students could bring their backpacks to school on Tuesday “as we return to our regular routine.” They also stated that they plan to maintain additional police presence during student arrival on Tuesday.