Vian Student Suspended, Suspected of Threat

A Vian male student is suspended from school and parents and others are flooding Facebook after a parent posted that the student made a threat against the school.

Such threats are cropping up across the country since a shooting left 17 dead at a Florida school on Feb. 14.

Vian School Superintendent Victor Salcido and Vian Law Enforcement could not, by law, release any details about the threat at Vian School. 

Salcido did report the student was suspended. He said school officials learned of the threat on Thursday and called law enforcement.

“Law enforcement was immediately informed. They have been there from early this morning, all day,” Salcido said Tuesday. “We have been prepared since Thursday when we first heard of the threat, and law enforcement was contacted at that time.

“We take everything like this very seriously,” Salcido said. “We appreciate our students who did the right thing.”

Salcido said the students reported the threat, which was allegedly posted on social media, and parents also spread the word on social media.

Salcido said the school has a policy to handle terroristic threats.

“We investigate then we contact the authorities,” Salcido said.

Vian Assistant Police Chief Gary Summers confirmed that Vian police were at the school, but could say little else because of law constraints.

“We are still investigating (the threat),” Summers said Tuesday morning. “We were at the school early this morning.”

District Attorney Jack Thorp was in meetings all morning on Tuesday in Tahlequah, and had not heard about the threat.

He explained that punishment for such a threat runs from being a misdemeanor to being a felony, depending on the extent of the threat. Basically, if the threat is only a threat, with no action taken toward harm, the threat can be ruled a misdemeanor, which would mean a stay in a juvenile detention center for a juvenile or zero to six months in the county jail for an adult. If there is an intention of a violent act and steps taken toward that goal, imprisonment could range from zero to 10 years.

Sally Maxwell, Senior News Director

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