Columbine High Reacts to Threat on Internet by Closing for 2 Days

Classes at Columbine High School were canceled Thursday and today, forcing a delay in final exams, after a student received a threat in an Internet chat room.

The threat was sent by someone outside Colorado to a 16-year-old Columbine student and warned her not to go to school Thursday, said Jefferson County sheriff’s spokesman Steve Davis.

“I need to finish what begun [sic] and if you do I don’t want your blood on my hands,” it read in part, Davis said. Agents were trying to find the sender, who used the screen name “Soup 81” to post the threat in an America Online chat room, Davis said.

Some parents have said that sheriff’s officials ignored Internet threats that foreshadowed the April 20 shooting rampage at the suburban Denver school. Twelve students and a teacher were killed by students Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, who then committed suicide.

“In the interest of the safety and emotional well-being of our community, we canceled classes,” school district spokesman Rick Kaufman said.

Holiday break started two days early, and final exams will be made up in January.

The family of the student who received the threat Wednesday night immediately contacted the Sheriff’s Department and school security, Kaufman said.

Authorities “swept the building inside and out” but found nothing, said district spokeswoman Marilyn Saltzman.

The district planned to go ahead with a Christmas concert Thursday night.