HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. (WTAJ)– Blair and Cambria County District Attorneys say that school threats are on the rise in central Pennsylvania and that they must stop.

“We certainly have dealt with more threats regarding violence at schools from last May to now than we have I would say in the years before this,” Blair County DA Pete Weeks said.

With threats made recently in the last few weeks at Richland, Greater Johnstown, Forrest Hills, St. Marys and Westmont Hilltop, Weeks says that they don’t even make press releases for other threats because they have become so common.

What’s even more alarming is that the threats are mostly coming from those who walk the hallways.

“The vast majority of the time we are seeing these threats made by a student who attends the school in which the threat is made at,” Weeks said. “And it is typically over issuing the student is having with peers at the school, but it is almost always someone in the school that is being threatened.”

Weeks says that while in most cases the ones making the threats are still minors, there are still massive legal ramifications.

“Typically, the minimum charge you can be faced with is felony terroristic threats,” Weeks added.

Cambria County District Attorney Greg Neugebauer says that all of the threats are treated with urgency and taken seriously to ensure the safety of students and faculty. He says that communities and parents can help fight the problem by watching what their kids do online.

“Parents will ask me you know what can I do,” Neugebauer said. “And one of the simple things is monitor what your kids are doing on the internet. Certainly, you know anytime law enforcement gets a tip or anything that there’s a school threat it is acted on immediately.”