Two 13-year-old girls charged after fake school shooting threat, Yeadon police say

YEADON, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- Two girls are facing charges after a fake school shooting threat at Penn Wood High School and middle school, Yeadon police say.

The mass shooting threats made on Instagram Thursday night led to increased police presence at every school in the William Penn School District, a criminal investigation, and unease for parents and students.

In the end, two 13-year-old girls are now facing criminal charges.

"They really did something wrong, they scared a lot of people. In today's times you don't know if it's real or not," says Sherria Ellis.

On Thursday night, Sherria Ellis' daughter showed her a post on Instagram reading, "We are aiming to kill a lot people of people, this is not a test."

It was one of three threats against students at two schools in the district.

The Yeadon police got word, and after messaging the users on Instagram, discovered the culprits were young girls.

"There was multiple people involved, at least two. This may have been a result of a fight, or some kind of an incident between the people posting the threats and those in the schools," said Chief Anthony Paparo.

Once the threat was deemed to be fake, the William Penn School District sent out a robocall to parents asking them to make their own judgment when sending children to school Friday.

Sherria Ellis, who drives a school bus, said she and other parents weren't willing to take the chance.

"I barely had any students for the high school. I only usually have about 40 or 50 students, I only had 13. In the middle school, I maybe had about 12. It really scared a lot of people," said Ellis, a mother of two high schoolers.

Yeadon police say the charges for the juveniles could range from unlawful use of a computer to making terroristic threats. Authorities stress that the goal isn't to throw the book at the young girls, but to have them evaluated and enrolled in counseling.