Expert weighs in on recent cluster of school violence threats in Oregon, Washington

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Some schools in Oregon saw closures or lockdowns on Friday amid reports of the threat of violence. In each case, students were confronted or detained by law enforcement. And it's only the latest in a string of similar events recently. Why is this happening?

That's exactly the question KOIN 6 News posed to Randall Blazak, an expert in school violence.

"How do I get out of this test I haven't studied for? I know I'll call it a bomb threat. Makes perfect sense to the teenage brain," Blazak said as a hypothetical example.

On Friday, multiple West Salem schools went into lockdown in the afternoon following reports of a student with a gun outside West Salem Middle School, authorities said. The Salem Police Department announced that law enforcement eventually located the student following a search.

The Molalla River School District also closed all their schools on Friday following a report of a threat on social media directed at Molalla River Middle School that was discovered on Thursday, authorities said. The Molalla River Police Department later announced they took a student into custody in connection to the case.

"So often a lot of young people make impulsive decisions that are catastrophic. They cause trauma that caused stress, they caused teachers to, you know, worry for their lives and students to start thinking that they're going to be the next victims of school shootings," Blazak said.

This is just the latest in a string of violent threats at local schools, including at least six on and around Friday the 13th earlier this month. Blazak has a few theories as to why this seems to be happening all at once.

"There is a contagion or a copycat effect that spreads through social media that says, go in this direction and you will, you know, you'll be TikTok famous for a minute," Blazak said. "You're not thinking in the long term."

On Wednesday, Portland police said they investigated an incident in which a student brandished a knife in self-defense after being chased by a group of people, then ran into Cleveland High School for safety and dropped the weapon once inside.

On Tuesday, the Camas Police Department in Washington state said they seized a gun being held by an 11-year-old at Skyridge Middle School. Police said they learned the student was in possession of several other weapons, which were also recovered, and arrested an adult for not keeping them in a secure place.

"When we are young, our brains are very impulsive. We are working on sort of, not a lot of, thinking about outcome. We're we're just incredibly impulsive," Blazak said.

The students and adults who identify these violent threats and bring them to the authorities are "heroes," Blazak said.

"They save lives. So we really have to celebrate. Those students are willing to break free of the peer pressure of their cohort to say something."

The Molalla Police Department and the Salem Police Department said their respective investigations are still ongoing.