Police have seized a gel blaster from the home of a 14-year-old boy who was allegedly responsible for a social media threat against an suburban Adelaide high school, where police officers were stationed this morning as a precaution.
The video shared on Snapchat appeared to target Playford International College at Elizabeth. It was captioned with the words "shooting Playford up" and was accompanied by the image of a firearm.
Education authorities were notified of the post yesterday, and police earlier said while they did not have "immediate concerns" about student and staff safety, they took the precaution of sending patrols to the school this morning.
Education Minister Blair Boyer, who said he was notified of the video at about 9:45pm on Sunday, said while there did not appear to be "any imminent threat" it was "obviously really concerning".
"School is happening there today, but there are security guards already on site at that school, they were in place before this, and there's going to be a SAPOL presence at the school today as well, and we'll be monitoring that very carefully," he said.
"We take those kind of threats, whether they're a hoax or not, incredibly seriously and there's no room for error."
Police have since confirmed they have spoken to, and searched the home of, the teenager who allegedly authored the social media post, and have seized the gel blaster depicted in the post.
"Police received a report regarding the dissemination of a social media post with a picture of a firearm and threatening words," police said.
"A 14-year-old boy from Elizabeth Downs was reported for creating a false belief and possessing a firearm without a licence."
The boy will be summonsed to appear in the Elizabeth Youth Court at a later date, police said.
TikTok fuelling school fight club trend
The matter coincides with renewed concerns over videos of so-called school "fight clubs" that are also circulating on social media.
Mr Boyer said that 18 students at Underdale High School, in Adelaide's west, had been suspended over such material, which he described as "uncharted waters in some respects".
"The footage that we've seen of these fight clubs is being driven by an international TikTok trend. It's not even necessarily the case [which] we have seen in previous examples of violence where one student is being bullied by another student and assaulted," he said.
"It appears to be a case where students are agreeing to basically have a boxing match on school premises which is watched and filmed by other students."
Police are also investigating an overnight break-in at Golden Grove Primary School, where police were called just before 2am.
Those responsible smashed windows and entered the school gym, from which they took fire extinguishers which were then let off in a kitchen.
Police have asked anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
