School shooting threats scrawled in bathrooms in Veracruz and Baja California sparked fear on April 21, prompting parents to pick up their children and authorities to launch security operations. In Veracruz, a message at Bachillerato Cristóbal Colón warned of a shooting, while a Tijuana secondary school faced a threat since April 17.
On April 21, a message scrawled in a bathroom at Bachillerato Cristóbal Colón in Veracruz warned of an imminent shooting. Authorities suspect a student wrote it, but parents rushed to the school to collect their children fearing a real incident.
"We parents voted and among us (we believed) it was better to take our children home," said a secondary school father. The school activated protocols including Operación Mochila, bolstered surveillance, and notified state security authorities. In a statement, it noted: "The corresponding school safety protocols were activated; under the institutional safety commission, such as Operación Mochila, reinforcement of surveillance procedures, and notification to state public security."
In Baja California, Municipal Secretariat of Citizen Security and Protection (SSPCM) officers responded to Secundaria No. 16 in Tijuana's Terrazas de la Presa after a similar message found on April 17. They coordinated with school staff and addressed about 50 parents on preventive measures against hoax threats.
Within a week, Tijuana saw three such incidents and Ensenada one more, leading to a secondary school's closure. At the Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC) in Mexicali, a bomb threat halted in-person classes, which shifted online. Social media fueled panic in Veracruz with false reports of an attack.
