Advertisement St. Xavier postpones football scrimmage due to 'Purge' threats Share Shares Copy Link Copy

A threat posted on social media about a threat of violence in Louisville Friday night forced school officials to postpone a football game that had been scheduled.Simon Kenton High School was supposed to play St. Xavier in a football scrimmage, but due to those threats, the game has been postponed.The threat is based off the movie "The Purge," in which all crime is legal for one night during the year.A flier circulating on social media said that would happen in Louisville Friday night.Simon Kenton school officials said they couldn't take any chances."We always have to err on the side of caution in these types of events. Unfortunately, we can never take a risk or a gamble when we are talking about the safety of our students," said Jessica Dykes with Simon Kenton High School.Police in Louisville and southern Indiana said they will be ready for anything just in case.WLKY asked Mayor Greg Fischer what he thought about the purge."Well, I mean it's part of the world we live in right now, so it's there whether I like it or not. So what's important is that we are monitoring the situation both via social media and all the folks we have on the ground and all the community groups we have that come to us and express their concerns as well. So the sign of a healthy community is constant dialogue and helping each other out," said Fischer.Instead of Simon Kenton coming to Louisville Friday night, St. Xavier will travel to Simon Kenton on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 11:30 a.m.Police and school officials have also gotten the same fearful questions and now they're all responding."Anytime that there is a treat that affects our community we are going to investigate that," said Louisville Metro Police Sgt. Phil Russell."Trying to do some of the stuff from the movies like murders, just a bunch of nonsense," said resident Tiffany Stephan.On WLKY's Facebook page, thousands aren't so sure it's nonsense. As information is circulated of where this purge could take place, at the Kentucky State Fair, upcoming concerts and local high school football games, fear has grown.Some residents on Facebook are going as far as saying they are arming themselves. The reaction is so large that police, the FBI and the school district can't ignore it."Due to circumstances that have trended nationally in regards to flash mob violence, in light of what occurred this past spring here, we realize that these things can occur in an instant," said Russell.While not being specific on their mobilization tactics this weekend, the new 28-camera system put in place after the mob violence last spring, is one certain tactic that police will use to monitor any suspicious activity.JCPS released a statement saying they are aware of the situation and are cooperating fully with law enforcement and will act accordingly.Jeffersonville police and the FBI have released similar statements."If someone is threatening to harm members of our community, then we're going to investigate them and pursue that as best we can," said Russell.Not only is the talk of a purge, or purge nights going on in Louisville, it's happening in other cities like Detroit, Kansas City, Miami and Cleveland.Police are taking the matter seriously and will pursue charges if needed.Anyone with information on any specific threat can call the anonymous police tipline at 502-574-LMPD.