Over 90% of Uvalde students were picked up early by their parents or
guardians from school Friday after a video was discovered circulating
social media referencing threats to schools in the area, according to the
district.

"These threats have caused families in our school district significant
discomfort," Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District spokesperson
Anne Marie Espinoza said in a statement.

The posts, which included an individual with a gun, were first discovered
Friday and originated in Del Rio, Texas, a city 70 miles west of Uvalde,
Texas, and targeted several school districts including Uvalde, Del Rio and
Eagle Pass. Several police agencies investigated the threats throughout
the day, and determined they are not credible.

"Unfortunately, as the anniversary of the Uvalde tragedy approaches, we
will see more people wanting to scare and disrupt our schools," the San
Felipe Del Rio CISD said in a press release.

Gladys Gonzales, a Uvalde parent, picked up her second-grade daughter from
school after hearing about the threats. She said there were only a handful
of students left in class when she picked her up. Her other daughter, who
was a survivor of the Robb Elementary School mass shooting, was not in
school Friday.

"It is nerve-racking every time there are threats," Gonzales told ABC
News. "Law enforcement need to take it serious every time. The fear is
real."

The posts also prompted the Uvalde school district to cancel their pep
rally on May 12. The district did not implement an early release for the
remaining 10% of students in order to prevent students from arriving at an
empty home without guardian supervision.

"I think that fear is always going to be there and as much as we try to
prepare ourselves, you can never be too safe," said Gonzales.

The mass exodus from Uvalde schools Friday afternoon is indicative of a
community still reeling from the mass shooting that killed 19 students and
two of their teachers nearly one year ago. Uvalde Interim Superintendent
Gary Patterson said in a statement that these types of situations are
occurring at a high frequency rate. The district became aware of another
threat on Snapchat that turned out to have originated in Florida on May 5.
Patterson wrote that the post was an attempt to disrupt the school day and
did not present any danger to students.

"We cannot afford to take anything for granted," said Patterson in a
statement about the most recent threat. "We expect social media threats to
increase as we near our one-year date."

The Uvalde school district has already elected to end the school year a
few days early, so the buildings will be void of students and teachers on
the one-year mark of the massacre.

<https://abcnews.go.com/US/uvalde-students-picked-early-parents-gun-
related-threat/story?id=99292140>