MINNEAPOLIMEDIA NEWS | Minnesota BCA Warns Schools to Treat Viral Social-Media Threats as Real Until Investigated

A disturbing online trend has already prompted a Minnesota arrest as authorities warn that hoaxes can cause fear, divert police resources and carry serious consequences.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN (September 4, 2026). Minnesota law-enforcement officials are urging schools, students and parents not to dismiss threatening social-media posts as jokes as a viral online trend spreads during the opening weeks of the school year.

Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans said investigators treat every reported school threat as legitimate until authorities can determine otherwise.

The warning follows the arrest of a student in Sleepy Eye this week in connection with a threat directed toward a school.

The social-media trend uses altered imagery associated with the children's character Cat in the Hat alongside language suggesting potential school violence.

MinneapoliMedia is not reproducing the threatening material.

Evans said investigators trace where a threat originated, attempt to identify the person responsible and determine whether that person has both the intent and ability to carry out violence.

Authorities say many such posts ultimately prove to be hoaxes.

But law enforcement cannot know that when a threat first appears.

That forces schools and police agencies to respond as though the danger may be real.

Minnesota recorded 72 school-related threats in 2024, according to information cited by the BCA, compared with 13 the previous year.

Evans said the increase reflects both genuine growth in threats involving mass-gathering places and improvements in mandatory reporting.

Schools are now required under state law to report legitimate threats to the Minnesota Fusion Center.

The BCA also operates a behavioral threat assessment and management team that works with local agencies to evaluate whether an individual is moving toward violence and what form of intervention may be appropriate.

That can include law-enforcement action, behavioral intervention or other resources depending on the circumstances.

Artificial intelligence is complicating the work.

Evans said AI can generate realistic images, threats and representations of real people, increasing both the difficulty of identifying the original creator and the risk that an innocent person could be falsely implicated.

Swatting incidents present another challenge.

Those cases involve fabricated emergency reports intended to trigger a large police response at a school, home or other location.

Even when no genuine shooter or immediate danger exists, such calls consume emergency resources, terrify students and families and can create dangerous conditions when armed officers respond to what they believe is an active emergency.

The BCA's central message as Minnesota schools begin another academic year is therefore deliberately simple:

A threat does not become harmless simply because it began as an internet joke.

Schools and law enforcement must treat it seriously until investigators establish otherwise.

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