COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — Cottonwood Heights police officers beefed up their presence in and around Brighton High School on Thursday following threats of a mass shooting.

But both police and Canyons District administrators said they have no reason to believe the threats were credible.

"There's not been any verified threat made," said Cottonwood Heights Police Sgt. Ryan Shosted.

Nevertheless, Shosted said extra officers were inside the school and driving around Brighton Thursday, as well as other nearby schools, both as a precaution and reassurance to the student body.

The threats follow an emotional week for students and administrators who are reeling from the deaths of two students, close friends, who reportedly died by suicide within a week of each other.

The threat of violence began as rumor through a series of text messages that referenced the deaths of the two boys and stated there "was going to be violence at the school the next day," said Canyons spokesman Jeff Haney. He said the district was alerted Wednesday afternoon that the rumor was spreading through texts and social media.

"What we're trying to do right now is determine who wrote those text messages and where they started," he said. "While we believe these text messages to be inaccurate, we're really trying to hunt down the genesis of these text messages."

Other events contributed to Wednesday's response, including a vulgar meme posted on Instagram by a student at another high school making fun of the recent tragedies at Brighton.

Haney said Thursday that school administrators had identified the juvenile who posted the meme and contacted his parents.

"I think right now everyone is a little emotional at the school and we're trying to treat things delicately and make sure everyone feels supported and keep everything calm," Shosted said.

Haney said attendance at Brighton started off very low Thursday morning, but was back to normal by noon as word spread that the threat appeared to be unfounded.

Getting help

The two boys who died were part of a group of friends that had other friends die in recent years from accidental deaths, Haney said.

Now, the district wants to make sure its students are taken care of and all can get the help they need.

Crisis counselors have been at the school almost daily for the past week, Haney said. On Monday, Kyle Scheele, a motivational youth speaker, will be at Brighton High School auditorium to talk about several topics, including suicide. The event is open to anyone 12 and over.

Haney said the school is also making sure all students have the SafeUT app on their mobile devices. The app provides a direct link to counselors at the University of Utah's Neuropsychiatric Institute (UNI).

"We are making sure that every student knows if they're not comfortable coming to the school and going to the counseling center and asking for help for what they're experiencing, there is a resource available to them," he said.

Students who are having concerns or need someone to talk to about suicide or bullying or challenging emotions, can use the app to text for someone to talk to and a counselor will respond immediately, Haney said.

Contributing: Jed Boal

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