German teen shooter's threat in chatroom

The 17-year-old German boy who killed 15 people and then himself this week warned about his plans "in an Internet chat room six hours before" he went on a shooting spree in his former high school, the Associated Press reported. The message he posted was seen by "a teen in the neighboring state of Bavaria. The Bavarian teen told his father and then police about the chat when he realized the threat had been real." But police didn't have enough time to locate the boy, apparently. The school, however, had fortunately done some training in case an incident like this should happen. "Authorities said they found some 60 shell casings in the school and that the number of victims could have been much higher had educators and police not carried out a plan learned in an earlier training program preparing them to respond to such a shooting." Pls see the article for details about the boy and the school's warning system. Here's coverage at the New York Times.

Hacker post h.s. threats in MySpace

Someone claiming to be a Petaluma (Calif.) High School student “hacked into several students' MySpace accounts at about 10 p.m. Tuesday” and posted threats that he or she would bring a gun to school today and shoot people, NBC11.com reports. The person also made references to the Virginia Tech shootings. The school, which told police that several hundred students received the threatening message, notified parents with a recorded phone message last night, but about 35% of the students were in class today. “In addition to the Petaluma Police Department's school resource officer there were five to seven additional officers on campus,” according to the TV report, but police said they found nothing suspicious today, and classes are scheduled as usual for tomorrow and Friday. MySpace works closely with law enforcement, with a toll-free number for police requests, so the hacker’s identity could well have been worked out by the time I post this (Wed. evening).