On Friday, Nov. 15, an unexpected email found its way into the inboxes of parents and guardians. A threat was messaged on an online video game chat for the following Friday. However, this was only the beginning of the panic experienced by the Chantilly community. By Friday, Nov. 22, a total of seven emails regarding threats were sent out to parents and guardians. In response to these events, security was increased from Monday onward. 

As the police investigated the first threat, a second threat was discovered in a social media post early Monday morning. Throughout the day, rumors quickly spread through the halls of a possible gun threat against the school. Concerned parents rushed to pull their children out of classes despite the school carrying on with a regular schedule and continuing to take attendance. 

In an email to the Chantilly Academy community sent that same morning, police updated that they had identified the student who posted the second threat on social media. After an interview, they confirmed that it was not meant to be threatening and poses no risk to the school. 

The officers that were contacted to investigate the first threat later identified the source of the first message and interviewed them as well. The police investigation concluded that the message had no malicious intent and was meant to be taken in a lighthearted and joking manner.

Yet after the resolution of the first two threats, a third one greeted parents on Tuesday morning. Police conducted another investigation that is still ongoing; the most recent email update disclosed that the person behind the last social media threat, which was posted on Snapchat, has yet to be identified. 

No new information has been discovered and no shooting has occurred.

Updated Nov. 22, 2019, 10:27 pm