Progress being made on threat investigation, Sheriff says, schools remain closed

By BREEANA LAUGHLIN

For the Hungry Horse News

Schools across the Flathead Valley remain closed Friday and no arrests have been made after a series of text and email messages made Wednesday threatened the safety of local students.

“We have worked throughout the night and we are continuing to make progress. We feel like we are getting closer to our subject but we haven’t made an arrest yet,” Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry told the Inter Lake.

Curry hasn’t released any new information regarding the nature or quantity of the threats — except that the perpetrator or perpetrators are sophisticated enough in their tactics to warrant a credible threat to the safety of students in the Flathead Valley.

“The recommendation to cancel school today was not made lightly, but we felt it was the best thing to do from a precautionary standpoint,” Curry said.

The FBI is aiding local and regional police jurisdictions in deciphering exactly who sent the threatening messages and finding the location of where the threats originated.

“The issue with cyber threats is all it takes is a computer and internet access to create a lot of havoc,” Curry said. “The challenges in these investigations always depends on the sophistication of the bad guy.”

A basic email sent from a home computer is easy enough to track. But if a person has in-depth knowledge of computers systems and applications, IP Addresses, etc. there are different ways to conceal an identity, Curry said.

Local police have a physical presence working to crack the case, while FBI agents are working remotely to find out who sent the alarming messages.

Law enforcement officials are asking the public to be patient as they work on the case.

“I know we have been intentionally vague, but it really is for investigative reasons. What I can say is we will continue to work diligently on this,” Curry said.

Curry said he will meet again with local school administrators sometime this weekend to update them on the status of the case.

“The protection of our schools is paramount. When we feel the risk is diminished or we have information that it is no longer credible we will resume school activities,” Curry said.

While parents and students may be on edge about the situation, Curry said they have no reason to believe there is a threat to public safety.

“People don’t need to run around afraid. We have no reason to believe people shouldn’t just go about their lives and feel safe in their day to day living,” Curry said.

In Columbia Falls, city hall remains open. The Columbia Falls football game tonight versus Stevensville at home is canceled and the soccer games versus Polson have been canceled as well, but will have to be made up at some point — the soccer games are conference matchups.

Some Columbia Falls daycares and preschools closed as well, parents said.