ISIS Flag Replaces American Flag in Utah High School, and Graffiti Warns of Potential Terror Attack
An American flag at a Utah high school was torn down Thursday and replaced by the flag of the Islamic State militant group, also known as ISIS, police confirmed.
The words “ISIS is comin” were also spray painted on the school’s wall, leading investigators to believe that someone had tried to write “ISIS is coming,” but had been forced to flee before finishing.
“The graffiti was removed by Washington County School District employees shortly after it was found. The ISIS flag was also removed and replaced with a new American flag. Investigators have been following leads throughout the day,” Hurricane City police confirmed in a statement.
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The police said classes would resume as usual and that they did not believe the school was in danger. The police have sent a picture of the flag to the FBI for further inspection. Police in Hurricane City said they did not believe the person who hung the ISIS flag was actually affiliated with the group, but no arrests have yet been made.
“[B]ased on information we received from the FBI we do not believe this act was perpetrated by someone linked to the Islamic State,” the police said in a statement.
ISIS frequently threatens to attack the United States and claims to have supporters operating in the country. However, most of the group’s threats are never realized. Terror attacks on U.S. soil are rare, and a 2016 report from the libertarian CATO Institute determined that Americans are more likely to be buried alive or choked to death than they are to be killed in an attack by a foreign terrorist.
Nonetheless, the terrorist group has increased its call for lone wolf attacks as it suffers serious military defeats in Iraq and Syria, losing most of the territory that it previously controlled.
However, the incident in Utah comes at a particularly sensitive time, following a mass shooting at a high school in Florida Wednesday that left 17 people dead.