MODESTO, Calif. — For high schools across Northern California, Friday was anything but normal.
What started as now-debunked social media posts threatening school shootings Thursday night, resulted in nearly empty classrooms, students being picked up midday and increased police presence at schools across the region on Friday.
"I couldn’t be here. I had to go home. It’s just not safe," said Modesto High School sophomore Damian Jiminez moments before stepping into his mom's car and leaving school before noon. "We were just in class and somebody had shown me an Instagram post of some disturbing comments."
The comments threatened a school shooting. Modesto police deemed the threats not credible, saying the social media post originated from Southern California and is connected to a national social media trend.
"As soon as I received his text, I texted his teacher and she told me that they were aware of it, so I just told her I’d be going and picking him up," said Jiminez's mom, Monica Barocio. "It's very scary."
Barocio wasn't alone in her fear.
"There was quite a bit of people that didn’t end up showing up," Jimenez said, adding that due to low attendance, one class was moved to a smaller sized room. "It was just empty."
Linda Mumma Solorio, spokesperson for Modesto City Schools, said absences from Friday would be excused.
"Because of the concerns, there may have been a little bit of an impact on attendance today, given that it’s also a Friday," said Mumma Solorio. "Parents are uneasy, students are uneasy."
That same uneasiness was felt in Rocklin, Sacramento, Fairfield, Stockton and Patterson.
Law enforcement in each of those cities issued statements acknowledging the unfounded threats Friday and, in some cases, promised increased police presence.
"Our investigators have to stop what they’re doing in that moment, the cases they’re currently working on, to give all their attention to this because we don’t take it lightly," said Stanislaus County Sheriff's Sergeant Veronica Esquivez. "We treat it as if it's real, and we continue to investigate until we can say it isn't credible."
Fortunately, most threats made to schools Friday were not credible and there were no reports of violence.
"It’s really disruptive to our campuses and to our students' learning," Mumma Solorio said. "We really want our families to talk with their students to encourage them to alert authorities if they hear of a threat and to not go to social media to share it or spread it there. We really want to get it to the proper hands."
Law enforcement, school officials, parents and students hope the threats will stop.
"It’s our school. We’re supposed to feel safe and get our work done," Jimenez said. "It’s kind of hard to when all this stuff is going on."
Watch more from ABC10: Sacramento area schools contend with social media trend, false threats
