Brother Martin High School adds extra security measures after threatening message in bathroom stall

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Brother Martin High School reported a threatening message in a bathroom stall to law enforcement on Monday.

According to school officials, there was anonymous graffiti in the restroom stall that threatened school safety.

“After being made aware of anonymous graffiti in the restroom stall on Monday threatening the safety of our school, we immediately notified law enforcement officials and worked with a number of officials in NOPD, all of whom deemed the graffiti to be not credible. Since that time, we have been in regular communication with NOPD. In situations like these, we follow the guidance, experience, and expertise of our immediate contacts in law enforcement,” said a school spokesperson.

The school announced that there will be additional security guards both indoors and outdoors on the campus.

The Principle, Ryan J Gallagher notified parents of the incident stating the following:

“Dear Parents, I would like to take this opportunity to provide you with an update to the school safety issue. After being made aware of the anonymous graffiti in the restroom stall threatening the safety of our school, we worked with a number of officials in NOPD — two who came to campus, our two school resource officers (one of whom was on campus Wednesday and will be monitoring campus for the remainder of the week), and the captain of the 3rd district — and a contact familiar with Brother Martin in the JPSO throughout the late afternoon and early evening Monday. All of the law enforcement officials deemed the threat to be not credible and agreed that we should operate in normal fashion moving forward. Since that time, we have been in regular communication with a number of officials at NOPD. In situations like these, we follow the guidance, experience, and expertise of our immediate contacts in law enforcement who, unfortunately, have experience with similar situations in other schools in and around the city.     We have had additional presence of our armed Merchants security guards both indoors and outdoors, and we will continue to have this additional presence in the building and around campus through the remainder of the school year. Our school resource officer will be on campus Thursday morning along with other members of the NOPD, so please do not be alarmed if you see NOPD or NOPD vehicles around campus during carpool.  We have also communicated with detectives at the Intel Division of the NOPD, and we requested additional police presence around school throughout the day tomorrow through that office. As your sons may have mentioned to you on Tuesday, we also spoke to our students yesterday morning at grade level meetings to inform them of the steps we’ve taken and to encourage them to speak to an adult if they ever see or hear something that seems out of the ordinary. Since that time, some students have shared some concerns with Mr. Lynn and Mr. Ursin, and we have addressed those concerns and are continuing to address those concerns with specific students and their parents. Naturally, there are now a number of rumors circulating about this issue, which we cannot control. However, we are following up with all of the information we have, both fact and rumor, and we have communicated all of that information to the detectives working with us in the Intel division.    With all of that being said, I understand that this situation is unsettling. If you feel it is best that you do not send your son to school, please know that we understand and support your decision and that his absence will be excused. “