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Kentucky school closes for the day due to threats, safety concerns after viral video

Posted at 10:36 AM, Jan 22, 2019
and last updated 2019-01-22 10:36:15-05

An alert was sent out Tuesday morning to parents of Covington Catholic High School students in Kentucky which said the school would be closed Tuesday in order to keep the students and faculty safe.

The closure comes after numerous threatening posts were made online after a video emerged on social media showing a Native American elder playing a hand drum in the midst of a crowd of CovCath students.

Both the Native American elder, Nathan Philips, and the main student in the video, Nick Sandmann, have released statements about the incident.

Each statement agrees the incident began when a third group of people yelled racial and homophobic slurs at the CovCath students. Philips then steps between the two groups, and this is where accounts deviate.

Many people have weighed in on the videos and the incident, including President Donald Trump.

A statement made Monday night by Covington Catholic High School principal Robert Rowe said an "independent third-party investigator” will look into the Washington, D.C. incident.

WCPO is still working to identify credible sources associated with this story. If anyone is interested in speaking to WCPO about this matter, please email us at newsdesk@wcpo.com.