PORT ALLEN — The West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office is investigating a “Cat in the Hat” threat that surfaced at Port Allen High School on Thursday morning.
Sgt. Landon Groger, with WBRSO, said deputies went to the school Thursday morning after a piece of paper referencing the kind of threat many places are seeing with the fast-spreading “Cat in the Hat” videos, was found around 9:30 a.m. on Sept. 3.
West Baton Rouge Sheriff’s detectives say they identified a 16-year-old Port Allen High School student as the person responsible for the threat. During the investigation, the student confessed to writing and leaving the note on campus.
The teenage student was arrested and charged with terrorizing before being booked into a juvenile detention facility.
The videos use AI-generated images along with the cadence and rhyming of Dr. Seuss to threaten violence against people or schools. Sheriffs in Lafourche, Iberville and Assumption parishes have posted warnings to discourage young people from doing something illegal that they think is just a social media “trend.”
West Baton Rouge Parish School Superintedent Chandler Smith said the threat was not credible, but school safety protocols were followed.
“The safety of our students and staff is our top priority,” Smith told UWK.
Groger said no evidence of an actual danger to the school was found.
Law enforcement in Florida, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kansas and Colorado have made arrests related to the “Cat in the Hat” videos. A child accused of threatening his middle school in Oxford, Miss., was arrested Thursday.
Groger said the paper threat was discovered Thursday morning. The school kept students in classrooms while deputies were called to campus.
“We were onsite during that time conducting the investigation, which is still ongoing,” he said.
“Our detectives took this threat seriously from the moment we were notified and worked diligently to identify the person responsible,” Sheriff Bergeron said. “I commend our deputies, detectives, and the school administration for their swift response and cooperation throughout this investigation. We will continue to take every threat against our schools seriously and will hold those responsible accountable.”
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