Authorities contacted after school death threat made on Wikipedia

May 24, 2008

Authorities have been contacted after a threat was made on the online encyclopedia Wikipedia. A user called Deathboy52 made an edit threatening violence at Thomas Grover Middle School, New Jersey. The incident was reported to Wikipedia's 'Administrators' noticeboard', where the reporting user said that the edit "absolutely needs to be reported to the school and the local police."

The user who made the edits has been blocked indefinitely from editing Wikipedia as a result of the threats made. Wikinews has learnt that the person who made the threats also edited the article on Sudan, in which he added "Halo therreewada WArr Destruction Deathboy," to the article. The threats were described by Wikipedia user Bongwarrior as death threats, although Wikinews has not seen the threat due to the fact that it was removed from the Wikipedia database.

In a similar incident which occurred last month, a student at Glen A. Wilson High School in Hacienda Heights, California was arrested on suspicion of making criminal threats against students. The student arrested, described as a male minor by Hacienda La Puente Unified School District police, confessed to making threats against students at the high school via a post to the Wikipedia article about the school.