AURORA, Colo. — Police in Aurora announced Tuesday that charges are pending against six juveniles regarding four separate incidents of violent threats made against schools in the past couple of weeks.

The schools targeted in the threats include Hinkley High School, Horizon Middle School and North Middle School.

Aurora police say some of the threats made by two boys and three girls in the four separate cases were intended as a joke or a way for the students to get attention. However, police say regardless of the students’ motivations, the threats caused real harm, and they are taking these cases other similar threats seriously.

The charges come amid heightened anxiety as districts and law enforcement agencies deal with an "extraordinary increase" in the number of violent threats directed toward schools across the state and country in the wake of the Florida shooting.

The talk of shootings and violent threats have primarily been made on social media sites like Snapchat and Facebook, disrupting schools in Colorado and resulting in several arrests, including at least five juveniles in Grand Junction.