FBI Houston reports arrests for school threats with new academic year just beginning

HOUSTON - The new school year has just begun, but the FBI says multiple arrests have already been made in the Houston-area for school threats.

By the numbers:

FBI Houston says the agency has already investigated three school threats for the 2026-2027 school year that just got underway, and two of them resulted in arrests.

According to the FBI, in one incident, three teenagers were arrested last week and charged with third-degree state felony offenses of terroristic threat for planning a mass shooting at a high school in Pasadena ISD.

"FBI Houston’s Threat Mitigation Team worked quickly to assess the threat and coordinated with our local law enforcement partners to prevent the attack," the agency wrote.

Last school year, FBI Houston received 42 tips related to school threats.

Big picture view:

FBI Houston reminds the public that making a school threat is a crime.

"Threatening to commit acts of violence against a school is a crime, and the FBI, along with our partners, is going to investigate every threat that we come across," FBI Houston wrote.

Reporting school threats

What you can do:

Anyone who sees a threat online, on social media or in text message is asked to report it to school police or local law enforcement immediately.

FBI Houston asks the public not to share the threats, because "doing so will only incite fear and create panic."

What they're saying:

"Law enforcement is going to use all available resources to investigate a school threat until we determine whether it is real or not," FBI Houston wrote. "Investigating hoax threats drains law enforcement resources and diverts us from responding to an actual crisis. Hoax threats can shut down school campuses, cause undue stress and fear amongst the public, and cost taxpayers a lot of money; not to mention ruin the future of those making the hoax threats as they’ll now have a criminal record."

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