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Police say person who threatened Brighton High School may prove difficult to identify

Posted at 8:24 PM, Nov 19, 2014
and last updated 2014-11-19 22:24:05-05

COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS, Utah — Police are still no closer to finding the person who made threats against Brighton High School over the weekend, and they said because the threat was made by an anonymous Twitter user they may never find the person responsible.

In a press release, police stated the threat was based on a post where the user showed pictures of firearms and a note directly referencing Brighton High School.

Officers said that when working with a big company like Twitter, it could take months to get the approval for investigative search warrants. They said that it’s possible they’ll never find the culprit when dealing with an anonymous user.

“It’s frustrating,” said Sgt. Corbett Ford of the Cottonwood Heights Police Department. “It’s one of those things that you know, I didn’t get into law enforcement to not solve crimes. As well as most police officers, so it is a very frustrating thing for us.”

Officers made an arrest Wednesday regarding a trespasser at the school, but they said that arrest was unrelated to the incident that sparked security measures earlier this week. Police initially said the man was originally a person of interest in the threats, but later said that for now they have no evidence supporting a connection between the individual and the threat.

The press release stated that the suspect may not even be someone who lives in the state, and officials stated they will not be releasing images of the threat.

According to the press release: “The investigation is continuing.  We now have information that the threat(s) may not have even originated within the State of Utah.  It is unfortunate that we live in a time where Social Media is used to send threats to our communities for the purpose of generating fear and a reaction from law enforcement.  We have chosen not to publish the screen shots or photos contained in the threats received so as not to further glorify this inappropriate behavior.”