

Dutch city closes its schools in response to a threat on 4Chan - lucb1e
https://plus.google.com/100221912051999668442/posts/J1aqrPXKZmt

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lucb1e
Last times I've posted a Google+ link I got some comments from people who
couldn't read it. For those, here is a copy:

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TL;DR: Schools were closed in a Dutch city yesterday because of a message on
4Chan. Nothing actually happened.

A message was posted on 4Chan two days ago, stating that a person was going to
kill his teacher and as many others as possible on a school in Leiden. The
Zürich police found this in a regular scan and contacted the Dutch
authorities. The message also said that he or she would be carrying a note
which was to be publicized. If not, a friend of his would do so on the
internet that afternoon. This note was what convinced that the police that it
was a real threat; it was something a real killer might think about.

After some deliberation, the major of Leiden decided together with the police
that schools should be closed yesterday. Both Zürich and the Dutch authorities
seem to have failed to notice that this was 4Chan they were talking about, and
the website even carries the headline: _"The stories and information posted
here are artistic works of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take
anything posted here as fact."_

One of the biggest Dutch news websites (nu.nl) now reports that 4Chan is
calling the would-be killer's post a "work of art", without naming sources.
The translation of 4Chan's publication, according to nu.nl, fits the headline
exactly, and they even cite a part of the sentence. They seem to have
completely missed the point that this message has been on the website for
months ifnot years.

Anyway, the schools posted on their websites that they would be closed that
day and also e-mailed the students. Most got the message, either via social
media or from the e-mail directly, and those who came to school were told by
personnel what was going on. Besides those, the only people roaming the place
were media and police with bulletproof vests.

I don't know what you'd do if you were expecting someone with a gun to come to
school, but I wouldn't close the place, tell everyone, and hope for him to
come anyway. You might as well post a tweet asking him to turn himself in.

Later that day another kid actually tweeted that he was heading over to Leiden
"right now" and was going to shoot a teacher. This made national news as well,
but a few hours later he tweeted in full caps that it was a joke and that he
was sorry.

A little while after that a suspect was arrested. He used an "open proxy", but
with the help of the FBI they managed to find the person. He was suspended
from a nearby school since late 2011 because of his behavior. Upon searching
no firearms were actually found.

Today schools opened again and police remains on guard incase the current
suspect turns out to be not to be the perpetrator. Nothing happened yet
though, so I'd say it was all just a great overreaction.

