Northglenn teen might have stopped school shooting before it happened
NORTHGLENN, Colo. (KDVR) -- An alert teenager in Northglenn might have helped stop a school shooting before it happened 800 miles away in Phoenix.
It was her smart thinking and actions after she caught sight of a menacing post on Snapchat.
Kaylee is like a lot of high school juniors these days: Up on technology wtih a large presence on social media, including Snapchat.
"It's another social media where you can contact people through pictures instead of text messaging," she said.
And it's why kids like it so much: It disappears seconds after being viewed. Or at least one student in Phoenix thought. Kaylee was using the app on Monday afternoon when a message popped up.
"It said 'Planning the school shooting.' And it kinda freaked me out at first so I texted my mom," Kaylee said.
"She said she got this picture and she texted it to me and asked 'Should I be concerned?' and my first response was yes," Kaylee's mother said.
Kaylee was smart enough to take a screen shot of it before it disappeared, then she went to one of the school's deans to show him the picture.
"He told me to go to the resource officers and I kinda sat there in the office with him while we figured out what to do and pursue finding out who he was," Kaylee said.
That wasn't too hard to find out. One of the features with Snapchat is when you grab a screen shot, that person is notified.
"So he Snapchatted me and asked me why I screen shotted his story," Kaylee said.
That started a dialogue back and forth, eventually leading that student to reveal where he went to school. It was 800 miles away at Sierra Linda High School in Arizona.
Phoenix police were quickly notified and arrested the teenager, who said it was a prank. He was arrested for one count of creating a hoax, a class 4 felony.
Kaylee's mother said it took guts to do what she did.
"This is something that even if it was someone being funny, it's not funny," she said. "And in Colorado, it's especially not funny."
Added Kaylee: "It just made me feel really good that I prevented something like that from happening."
