LIHUE — Police detained one person and are looking into “persons of interest” in connection to threats that forced lockdowns of school campuses in Lihue and Kapaa for over an hour Thursday.
Police later determined the threats were false, according to a county press release.
Kapaa and Kauai High schools, Kapaa Elementary and St. Catherine School were locked down about 10:15 a.m. Thursday.
“The administration was made aware this morning of an alleged threat made towards Kapaa High School,” Kauai Complex Area Superintendent Bill Arakaki wrote in a statement to The Garden Island.
A Kauai County spokesperson said the Kauai Police Department was “investigating reports of unconfirmed threats” to Kapaa High and Kauai High.
State Department of Education officials placed both campuses on lockdown, along with Kapaa Elementary School. Officials with St. Catherine School followed suit, with KPD officers posted at all four schools, the spokesperson said.
Police debunked the threats about an hour later, and school officials lifted the lockdowns about noon, according to a county spokesperson.
“No active threat was identified at any time during today’s incident,” the email said.
The county reported that police detained one suspect and identified “persons of interest” at both high schools.
Thursday’s incident was the fourth in a series of school threats made in the past month.
On Sept. 30, threats of violence forced Waimea and Kauai High schools to close early, as law-enforcement officials investigated reports of text messages about plans to “bomb every single building” on the Waimea High campus and “shoot every student and teacher” at Kauai High School.
Those two incidents came on the heels of two other threats that forced school closures just days before. Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School administrators shut down the campus after a student allegedly made threatening social media posts, and Kauai High was forced to close its doors just five days later while police investigated a threat made via text message.
A police investigation of the most recent threat is ongoing.
