Liberty Mother Feels Left In Dark After Student Arrested For Making Threats

Deputies said they arrested a student for threatening to shoot up Liberty High School, but one mother said the district kept parents in the dark too long.

Tulsa County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a 17-year-old student they said was making threats to others at her school. The same student was suspended for 45 days in the past for threatening another student with a knife.

Sheila Beesley graduated from Liberty High School and had a great experience. So, when it came time to pick a school for her daughters, she wanted them to have the same thing.

"I think highly of the school. The teachers are amazing, my daughter flourishes. I couldn't ask for a better community," Beesley said.

Which is why she said she was caught off guard by what happened Thursday.

Beesley said she got a call from her daughters saying a student at the school had threatened to shoot other students.

"How did it happen and why did I not know yet," Beesley asked.

An incident report says the student threatened several other students, saying, "She was going to shoot the school up on Friday," that other students "better watch out because she is coming for them." "If she had her AR she would have done it today."

The report says the student said she'd already selected her targets – people she said had been bullying her at school.

Beesley said she called the school office several times but didn’t hear back until 6:30 that night.

"Something - to let us know our kids are safe because we are gonna hear about it," she said. "We trust them with everything that we have and I feel like they kind of let us down a little bit."

Beesley said the whole thing has shaken her family.

She said she wants the school to fix the communication issues so if an actual emergency happens, parents will be in the loop as soon as possible.

"I do believe in this school and I believe we can do better than what we did yesterday," Beesley said.

Deputies said if any other kids have been threatened by the student to file a report with the sheriff’s office.

The superintendent said he won’t be issuing any statement other than the email sent to the parents, which read:

“Good Evening Liberty Community,

“At Liberty student safety is of the utmost priority. Today at the High School a verbal threat was made toward our students.

“Appropriate precautions were taken and The Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office was notified. The suspect has been taken into custody. At no time were any of our students or staff in any immediate danger.

“Liberty Administration will continue to put student safety first today, tomorrow, and in the future.”