The Manteca Police Department was forced to maintain an active presence at George McParland Elementary School on Thursday after a series of disturbing TikTok videos that included threats to specific staff members surfaced.

The threats, the Manteca Police determined after an investigation, were not credible.

It was the staff at McParland that contacted a School Resources Officer on Thursday after the videos – which mentioned a potential shooting at the school and showed pictures of some of the staff members – became public.

The individual responsible for making and posting the video was eventually determined to be a student at the school.

“While we can neither discuss the details of the individual’s statement nor identify the student, we can say that there was no immediate threat to the school, the students, or the staff,” the Manteca Police said in a statement about the incident. “The juvenile was charged with disrupting school operations and threatening school staff.

“The case will be presented to the San Joaquin District Attorney’s Office (Juvenile Division) for disposition.”

While cases of threats being actually credible are rare, the fact that the Manteca Police Department must treat every threat as if it were real often ties up resources for long periods of time – making those officers unable to pursue other calls or cases until it is determined to be a hoax.

As in previous instances where situations like these arose, the close working relationship between the Manteca Unified School District and the Manteca Police Department – the district pays for the school resource officers and works closely with the police department – played a major factor in determining that the threat was not credible and bringing the situation to a close.

“The Manteca Police Department and the Manteca Unified School District take the safety of school students and staff very seriously,” the Manteca Police said. “Providing a safe environment for education is our highest priority and any threat to that safety will be addressed immediately.

“There will be no tolerance for threats (expressed or implied) against students or staff. MPD is extremely fortunate to have such a great relationship with MUSD. It is because of this outstanding cooperation that we were able to bring this investigation to a rapid and successful conclusion.”

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact Manteca PD Dispatch at 209.456.8101.

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.