Alleged threat against Riggs Elementary in Gilbert proves untrue

By Tom Blodgett
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An alleged social-media threat against Riggs Elementary School in Gilbert was investigated and dismissed, Gilbert police said. 

However, the principal of the school, Jamie Lander, is on leave for undisclosed reasons.  

Lander is the stepmother of a teenage boy who has been associated on social media accounts with teen violence and, again according to the accounts, allegedly made the threat on the popular social media platform SnapChat. 

One account on TikTok said many Riggs parents were keeping their children home from school Wednesday as a result and that teachers were to have a mandatory meeting with Chandler Unified School District officials after school. The post was later taken down. 

“We are aware of the post,” Gilbert police spokesperson Brenda Carrasco told the Gilbert Independent by email Wednesday. “Gilbert PD alongside the Chandler Unified School District has investigated this, and at no time was there a threat toward the school or any of its students.” 

An inquiry from the Independent to Chandler USD about the alleged threat, Lander’s leave and attendance Wednesday at the school went unanswered. 

Tom Blodgett
Senior News Editor | Gilbert

tblodgett@iniusa.org

Meet Tom
Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022, when the company acquired Community Impact Newspaper's Phoenix-area properties. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.

Community: He has served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2005, and is editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet. He also is director of operations for an 18U girls fastpitch softball team from Gilbert.

Education: Arizona State University with a BS in Journalism. 

Random Fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.  

Hobbies: Tweeting enthusiastically about ASU softball (season-ticket holder) and grumpily about other local sports (pessimistic fan).