Investigation reveals threat at QHS originated outside Quincy; Steinke, Pettit say social media posts didn’t help

QUINCY — A letter signed by Quincy Superintendent Todd Pettit and Quincy High School Principal Jody Steinke was posted on the Quincy School District 172 Facebook page on Tuesday night, providing more detail about a threat of violence Tuesday morning at Quincy High School.

Students at QHS and at the adjacent Baldwin School campus were put into a “secure lockout status” as school officials, law enforcement and the FBI investigated the incident. An email from Anna Oakley, communication officer for Quincy Public Schools, informed the media that Quincy Public School families and staff had been notified that the “secure campus status” had been lifted at approximately 1:30 p.m.

After reports of a threat were reported on social media, Steinke sent an email to QHS families. 

“A short time ago, we were made aware of a threat made toward Quincy High on social media,” he wrote. “We are taking this seriously. Currently, we are in secure mode. This means that no one will be allowed to enter the building until further notice. We are working with law enforcement to determine the source of the online threat. We will send more information as soon as we have it.”

The letter from Steinke and Pettit said the student who saw the threat on Snapchat did not know the person or the account who posted the threat.

The threat read, “Y’all I’m finna shoot up quincy senior high t.”

An investigation from the Quincy Police Department determined that a local resident’s profile, first created in 2020, had been used to send the threat. However, QPD officers interviewed the person who claimed they had no knowledge of the threat and had not used Snapchat “in a long time.”

Ultimately, the investigation revealed the post originated outside of Quincy.

The letter from Steinke and Pettit said that after QHS and Baldwin were put into “secure mode,” hundreds of parents attempted to call QHS at the same time to have their student excused from school.

“Our phone system was not able to manage this many calls at the same time,” the letter said. “We did adapt and came up with a process to get students excused as efficiently as possible.”

The letter said evidence suggested the threat was a hoax or a “swatting” attempt.

The letter then addressed rumors on social media that:

• Two students had been detained for making the threat.
• Students had been arrested on campus with knives.
• Students had been arrested on campus with guns.
• Four students were driving around Quincy with a bag of guns.
• Today was not the real event and that Wednesday is the real threat.

The letter from Steinke and Pettit debunked each of those rumors.

“Based on all of the information we have, we have no reason to be concerned about the safety of our students (Wednesday),” Steinke and Pettit wrote.

“We are steadfast in our mission to keep our students and staff safe, and we will always err on the side of caution. Social media posts and online rumors, however, make this task infinitely more challenging. If there is a credible threat, we will take immediate action to ensure the safety of the campus, and then we will inform families.

“We would ask that our students and families help us with this process by being mindful that social media is not the most accurate source of information. Our promise to you as parents and families is that we will do everything in our power to keep students safe.”