Third threatening video identified by Niskayuna school, cops

PHOTOGRAPHER: Steven Cook

A video threatening a Niskayuna High School student posted Tuesday is related to two similar videos posted last week, police confirmed Wednesday.

The new video also prompted a new letter home to parents late Tuesday from Niskayuna High’s principal, telling parents of the new video and updating them on the investigation and the involvement of the FBI in the search for whoever posted the videos.

Niskayuna Police Chief John Lubrant on Wednesday would only say “there appears to be a third video.”

“The matter remains a priority investigation,” he said. “It’s under investigation. Because of that factor, I’m not at liberty to discuss the progress or status any further.”

In his letter to parents, high school Principal John Rickert wrote that he became aware of the third video at Tuesday evening’s Board of Education meeting. Rickert describes the video as “another video,” but district Superintendent Susan Kay Salvaggio said at the board meeting that Rickert indicated to her the video was an old one that had been reposted.

Rickert wrote that he alerted police, who said they were also aware of it. “The FBI is also aware of this and is actively investigating the source of the videos,” Rickert wrote. “Subpoenas have been issued for the IP addresses and once granted, law enforcement will move forward with closing the case.”

The high school has been on alert since the first video surfaced Thursday. Police have said the three students identified as targets of the threat learned of the first video through emails. The emails directed them to the video, which was posted on the online video service YouTube. Police described the videos as threatening in nature.

At least one of the videos appeared to have been taken down by YouTube at midday Wednesday, but two others remained posted and accessible. By late Wednesday afternoon, though, the entire account had been terminated by the service, according to a message on the site.

The account had been active since April. Comments on the user name’s YouTube channel reflected the latest news in the investigation. One person, apparently addressing the unknown person who posted the videos, commented simply, “FBI are coming for you.”

In the videos taken down Wednesday, one student is mentioned by name in text. The audio is completely taken from a death-centered rap from known recording artists.

The names of the artists are also included in different portions of the video.

The newer of the two videos, posted Tuesday evening, also began with an apparent taunting of police.

A Google search of the user name revealed a link to the apparent first video, which named three girls in the title. That link went to a YouTube page indicating the video had been removed for violating the site’s policy on hate speech.