When Sandy Hook Promise (SHP) says it prevented a school shooting, we need to believe it. Right now, we can’t.
The organization, dedicated to preventing gun violence in schools, falsely claims it averted a tragedy at M-A on Sept. 10. Two months later, its website and social media still describe this occurrence as the 19th “verified” school shooting it has prevented.
However, the press releases on its website only describe 12 “tragedies prevented,” with eight including identifying information. Many of the identifiable press releases either overstate SHP’s involvement or the severity of the threat.
SHP’s mission is undoubtedly important. This year alone, gun violence has killed 29 people on school grounds, and firearms are the leading cause of death for children and teens in the U.S. However, by publishing sensationalized press releases for self-promotional purposes, SHP perpetuates fear among those it is dedicated to protecting.
On Sept. 22, numerous national news outlets reported that M-A was placed under Secure Campus due to a credible, planned threat of gun violence.
Those stories relied on an SHP press release claiming its Say Something tip line, used by M-A for anonymous reporting, helped “prevent a school shooting” and spared the community “unimaginable heartbreak.”
Shortly after, SHP Co-Founder and CEO Nicole Hockley, whose son was killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, posted on Instagram that “a tragedy was stopped” as a “direct result of Sandy Hook Promise’s programs.”
In the video, she stated both the District and police confirmed a student posted “images of firearms, ammunition, and a plan for attack.”
This contradicted a statement from the Atherton Police Department, which investigated the threat. The Department said there were “no firearms depicted” in the post and no firearms recovered, emphasizing that “at no time has there been an ongoing threat to the public.”
The inaccuracies, published in outlets such as ABC7 News, Good Morning America, and NBC News—all citing SHP’s press release—sparked shock and confusion.
“I immediately got calls and emails from staff members, from community members that said, ‘Hey, you’re not being transparent. What’s going on?’” Principal Karl Losekoot said.
“You create a sense of mass hysteria, and that’s also bad, because now you’re putting fear into somebody’s mind that didn’t have fear before,” Student Resource Officer Dimitri Andruha said.
“Yes, this was a serious threat, but the news stories made it feel like it was an immediate situation that was right outside the walls of M-A, and that was not the case. It was not immediate. It was not in action. It was not being acted upon,” Losekoot said.
“I was pissed,” Losekoot said. “I felt like misinformation was put out there that was used to sensationalize an event at our expense.”
Following the media attention, District Superintendent Crystal Leach released a statement clarifying the situation. “Last evening ABC7 News did a story on the Secure Campus, prompted by a release of information from Sandy Hook Promise that we were not informed about, and, unfortunately, ABC’s story included incorrect and incomplete information,” Leach wrote.
“I understand wanting to celebrate successes of the program, but without the context of the whole event, [it was done] a little bit at our expense,” Losekoot added.
Two days after publishing the press release, on Sept. 24, SHP’s Chief Program Officer Crystal Brown-Garrant reached out to Leach to apologize to the District for issuing the press release without informing them in advance. She added that the discussion ended on a “positive note.”
The same day, SHP updated its statement to include a note at the bottom: “Access to a weapon was confirmed by officials. Our original statement stated that law enforcement ‘recovered weapons from their home,’ which was incorrect.”
However, this update still contradicts the Atherton Police Department’s statement that the student did not have access to a weapon and none were recovered. The M-A Chronicle alerted SHP of the inaccuracies in its original statement on Sept. 26 and Sept. 30 and has not received a response. Over a month later, the organization has neither removed Hockley’s Instagram post nor corrected the errors in its press release.
It is SHP’s responsibility to correct its mistakes. Failing to take down misinformation—especially after being alerted to it—is blatantly irresponsible.
“I WAS PISSED. I FELT LIKE MISINFORMATION WAS PUT OUT THERE THAT WAS USED TO SENSATIONALIZE AN EVENT AT OUR EXPENSE.”
Karl Losekoot, M-A Principal
When news outlets pick up false information from SHP’s press releases, there is no guarantee they will publish retractions. But more importantly, they should ensure they get it right the first time. Many outlets often do not alert readers to the release of false information. Rather, they edit the stories to correct inaccuracies, which few readers see.
SHP’s dramatization of our Secure Campus is not an isolated incident. A pattern of exaggeration, and sometimes false information, is present in many of SHP’s press releases that include identifying details, like school names, locations, and specific dates. Furthermore, in its four most recent “tragedies averted,” SHP has omitted any and all identifying details.
Sandy Hook Promise’s “Tragedies Averted”
November 2015 – Includes identifying information
Press release: SHP claimed that a student trained in the Say Something program reported threats to a school counselor. The police investigated the threat, and the student who made the threats was arrested. The organization claims its Say Something instructional programs helped “stop a planned school shooting.” November 2015
Outside information: A student reported overhearing threats of violence to a school counselor, and the student who made the threats was charged with inducing panic. “Students were not in danger, and there was no live or active threat to students, and investigation showed there was no plan to harm anyone in the building,” School Resource Officer Dean Doerflein said, according to The Enquirer.
March 2019 – Includes identifying information
Press release: SHP wrote that students noticed disconcerting behavior from one of their peers, which they then reported to a trusted adult, helping “avert potential violence.” SHP noted that this came just weeks after students had participated in SHP’s annual Say Something Week.
Outside information: Upon returning to school on Monday, students reported directly to school administrators that a student made threats directed at staff and classmates over the weekend. The police quickly arrested said student the same day. The school was not locked down or evacuated, and the sheriff reportedly said “no one was in immediate danger.” The superintendent and assistant superintendent said “at no time were any of our students in danger.” Sandy Hook Promise had recently hosted a “See Something Say Something” presentation.
February 2020 – Includes identifying information
Press release: SHP claimed that because students received Sandy Hook training nine months prior, they knew to turn to their advisor and report a student who exhibited behavioral shifts and bragged about “his plans.” The student was found with an AR-15, ammunition, a map of the school, and a list of targets.
Outside information: A student made a threat to shoot other students at school, and multiple other students reported it to teachers after overhearing. The police found a rifle, ammunition, a hand-drawn map of the school, and a list of targets. Neither account mentioned SHP.
January 2022 – Includes identifying information
Press Release: SHP reported that the Say Something tip line helped save lives after multiple tips detailed a student’s threat to bring a gun on campus. Authorities located the student, and the tip was found to not be credible.
Outside information: Tipsters alerted administrators to social media threats associated with Jay County Jr. Sr. High School. The district said the Jay County Sheriff’s Office investigated the threat and determined the situation was “resolved” and reopened the school, according to Wane15 News.
April 2022 – Includes identifying information
Press release: SHP claimed a student saw a gun in another student’s backpack on the way to school, and implemented what he learned in the Say Something program by alerting the bus driver. Authorities found ammunition and a weapon, and the student confessed that they planned to kill someone at school.
Outside information: On the way to school, a teen with a plan to shoot someone at school got into an altercation with another student on the bus. The teen pulled out a gun, and a different bystander student grabbed the magazine from the gun and took it to the bus driver. Jackson County Sheriff Ross Mellinger applauded the student’s “instinctive” action.
February 2023 – No identifying information available
Press release: SHP claimed a student with a history of bullying threatened to kill others and then himself. According to submitted tips, the student sent “images of weapons and plans of violence” to peers. Authorities deemed the threats credible and the student was taken into custody and charged with a felony.
February 2023 – No identifying information available
Press release: SHP reported that their Crisis Center received tips that a student had a gun on campus. Access to weapons and a plan to bring the gun back to school was later confirmed by police.
February 2023 – No identifying information available
Press release: SHP wrote that they received multiple tips about a student’s “violent plan” to do harm at multiple schools. All schools were shut down for the day to investigate, and the student was arrested. They claimed that the threat was later deemed credible and that the student had access to a weapon and a plan. They reported this was their 14th prevented school shooting.
April 2023 – No identifying information available
Press release: SHP claimed it prevented its 15th “credible school attack.” Tips fielded by SHP said the student, who had access to a weapon, intended to do mass harm to the school.
After a 15-year-old was arrested for making threats in Pinellas County, Fla. in 2022, SHP published a press release titled “Sandy Hook Promise Program Helped Prevent Florida School Shooting.” However, SHP linked to a local news source that stated the teenager had no access to weapons, a fact later confirmed by the sheriff’s office.
The student arrested in that case claimed the messages were a “joke.”
While flippant threats—especially in schools—are never acceptable, they are common. An active, credible threat is something else entirely. When SHP conflates the two, it damages its reputation and dilutes the urgency and horror of actual gun violence.
If a student is debating whether to submit a tip about concerning behavior, the possibility of their decision being blown out of proportion may deter them from speaking up.
In a 2022 incident in Portland, Ind., several tips about a student who threatened to bring a gun to school were submitted to SHP’s reporting system. SHP’s own press release states “the tip was found not to be credible,” yet, filed under the “Tragedies Prevented” section of its website, the release is titled “Say Something Anonymous Reporting System Saves Lives in Indiana.”
Though parts of SHP’s releases acknowledge that some threats were not credible, the organization still labels them as “tragedies prevented” and uses these incidents for promotion.
While SHP did not directly contradict law enforcement in all cases, inaccurate titles and exaggerated risks perpetuate unnecessary fear. Beyond misleading the schools it serves, this practice undermines the credibility of an already contentious gun control movement.
After the Sandy Hook tragedy, conspiracy theories falsely claimed the shooting was a hoax and the victims’ families were “crisis actors.” In 2022, the families of eight victims won a $965 million judgment from podcaster Alex Jones, a leading source of those lies, in addition to $473 million from his company, Infowars.
The claim that gun violence is exaggerated, often used as an argument against regulation, is unfortunately mainstream. Because SHP plays a pivotal role in the gun control movement, publishing false information risks more than its own reputation, but the trustworthiness of the broader effort.
WHILE FLIPPANT THREATS—ESPECIALLY IN SCHOOLS—ARE NEVER ACCEPTABLE, THEY ARE COMMON. AN ACTIVE, CREDIBLE THREAT IS SOMETHING ELSE ENTIRELY. WHEN SHP CONFLATES THE TWO, IT DAMAGES ITS REPUTATION AND DILUTES THE URGENCY AND HORROR OF ACTUAL GUN VIOLENCE.
Repeated exaggeration of threats can cause a phenomenon known as “alarm fatigue.” When people are exposed to frequent warnings, especially when many prove false, they become more susceptible to desensitization. The more threats SHP announces, the less seriously each one may be taken.
On their website, SHP claims they use “strict criteria” to evaluate whether they prevented an attack—assessing initial information, law enforcement investigations confirming the threat is credible, and access to a weapon and /or plan.
However, the student involved in M-A’s incident did not have access to a weapon. Losekoot and Andruha both emphasized that the threat was not in immediate action.
Potential threats that merit investigation are entirely different from school shootings set to actually happen. To ignore this distinction is to say that M-A has had four “tragedies prevented” in the past seven years. In 2018, a misunderstood social media post involving a BB gun sent the campus into lockdown for hours. After M-A began using SHP’s tip line in 2022, firearms were recovered from students on campus thanks to anonymous tips in two separate incidents, but neither student had a plan to use them. While September’s post and these three incidents all deserve to be taken very seriously, it would have been misleading to imply that a school shooting was moments away in any of them.
“In our two years of working with them, they’d never put out a statement on prior tips before. And so I wasn’t aware that that was something they would do, and then ABC News ran it,” Losekoot said.
BECAUSE SHP PLAYS A PIVOTAL ROLE IN THE GUN CONTROL MOVEMENT, PUBLISHING FALSE INFORMATION RISKS MORE THAN ITS OWN REPUTATION, BUT THE TRUSTWORTHINESS OF THE BROADER EFFORT.
As the first step in an investigation, the tips SHP fields are always going to be based on incomplete information and prone to mistakes.
Law enforcement and school districts typically limit the information they release in order to protect minors’ privacy and prevent misinformation and speculation. But SHP is primarily funded through donations, incentivizing them to release information obtained through their tipline.
On a Bay Area Reddit thread discussing SHP’s claims about M-A, one user wrote, “Now THIS makes me want to donate to Sandy Hook Promise. Not unskippable YouTube ads…”
SHP’s tip line fills a gaping hole in the government’s protection of schools from gun violence. Before SHP’s founding, it was largely up to individual schools to create their own reporting systems.
Until 2022, M-A provided a Google Form for students to submit anonymous tips. However, students were told not to expect responses after 11 p.m. and to contact the police directly in the case of an emergency.
“While I don’t love Sandy Hook’s press release, the system that we use and the system that they support was helpful,” Losekoot said. “It’s a good thing that we have Sandy Hook here.”
SHP’s Say Something tipline is by far the largest anonymous reporting system that exclusively serves schools around the clock across the nation. Its Know the Signs programs were some of the first of their kind to educate students, teachers, and administrators on how to notice potential signs of violence.
But we don’t need to exaggerate gun violence to be horrified. The Sandy Hook Shooting in 2012—and countless school shootings since—proved that.
BUT WE DON’T NEED TO EXAGGERATE GUN VIOLENCE TO BE HORRIFIED. THE SANDY HOOK SHOOTING IN 2012—AND THE COUNTLESS SCHOOL SHOOTINGS SINCE—PROVED THAT.
Solving this issue exceeds SHP’s or any private organization’s reach. A responsible government would offer these services, but as long as SHP fills this role, it must act ethically and avoid releasing sensationalized information for marketing purposes.
Our district, and over 14,000 other schools, relies on SHP to deliver crucial information to keep us safe. The organization’s embellishment comes at the expense of the trust of the communities it serves—and potentially a student’s willingness to speak out.
SHP did not respond to the M-A Chronicle’s multiple requests for comment.
Gaby Foster and Becca Koenig were the lead authors of this article.
