Staff at a high school in Arizona have been doxed and flooded with online attacks, and have received multiple death threats, after a spokesperson for Turning Point USA inaccurately accused a group of teachers of wearing Halloween costumes that purportedly mocked the assassination of TPUSA cofounder Charlie Kirk.
On Friday, members of Cienega High School’s math department wore matching, bloodied white T-shirts with the words “Problem Solved” written in black lettering across the front. A picture of the group was posted on the Vail School District Facebook page. The district’s superintendent, John Carruth, said in a statement that no student or parent complained about the costumes during the school day.
Then, on Saturday, Andrew Kolvet, who was the executive producer on Charlie Kirk’s show, posted the picture on X. “Concerned parents just sent us this image of what’s believed to be teachers in [Vail School District] mocking Charlie’s murder,” Kolvet wrote. “They deserve to be famous, and fired.”
The white T-shirts, Kolvet implied, bore a resemblance to the “Freedom” T-shirts Kirk was wearing when he was assassinated while speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on September 10.
Kolvet’s post went viral and had been viewed almost 10 million times before it was deleted on Tuesday after WIRED contacted him.
Immediately following Kolvet’s post going live, Cienega High School was bombarded with social media posts, comments, direct messages, emails, and at least one voicemail containing racial slurs, calls for the teachers to be fired, the personal information of school staff, and explicit threats of violence. The school shared these messages with WIRED.
The school district immediately responded to the accusations, clarifying on Facebook that the costumes were not a reference to Kirk’s assassination and that the math department had in fact worn the same costumes a year previously.
“We want to clarify that these shirts were part of a math-themed Halloween costume meant to represent solving tough math problems,” Carruth, the superintendent, wrote. “The shirts were never intended to target any person, event, or political issue.” The Vail School District provided WIRED with a copy of an email from October 31, 2024, featuring a picture of the same costumes.
While Kolvet acknowledged Carruth’s statement and admitted in a post on X later on Saturday that the costumes had been worn the year previously, he did not remove his original post.
“It’s a very weird costume for teachers in general, but after what happened to Charlie, I’m absolutely floored they wore it again,” Kolvet wrote. “I do not believe for a second that all of them are innocent.”
Kolvet said he was “acting in good faith” and hadn’t deleted the original post because he was unaware until he spoke to WIRED on Tuesday that the teachers had faced death threats. “I detest and abhor any violence or threats of violence,” Kolvet said, though he added that he still believed that at least some of the teachers involved were aware of a link to Kirk. “Call me a cynic, but I do think some of them knew how it would be perceived.”
Kolvet’s post was quickly shared by other X accounts, including that of Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who subsequently deleted his post when it was revealed that the costume was not a reference to Charlie Kirk.
Much of the anger against the school and its teachers was focused on Facebook.
Among the initial flood of posts about the situation, which began just hours after Kolvet’s post, people began sharing the names and contact details of the people in the picture. On Facebook, one account began sharing what it said were the home addresses of several of the teachers wearing the costumes as well as their home phone numbers and personal email addresses.
“Each one of these teachers’ names and info can be placed on the dark web and allow nature to take its course,” one Facebook user wrote in a direct message to the school district. “Then we can mock them when it’s time. You never know who sees your post or what skills they have!”
Many of the dozens of posts reviewed by WIRED also included a much more menacing overtone.
“You can’t block everyone, keep blocking us, we’re coming for you,” one Facebook user wrote in a direct message after the Vail School District began blocking users posting threatening messages. “Literally driving to Tucson as we speak You fucking wait.”
“Praying every member of this district defending that vile shirt ends up like Laken Riley,” another Facebook user wrote in reference to the 22-year-old nursing student who was brutally murdered last year.
On Monday morning, staff at the school arrived to hear a voicemail from an unidentified source. “Fuck you guys,” the caller said, according to a copy of the voicemail shared with WIRED.
There was an increased police presence on the school campus at the beginning of the week, principal Kim Middleton wrote in a letter to the school community, which was shared with WIRED.
“We have asked for high visibility from our partners at the Pima County Sheriff’s Office due to the aggressive nature of online comments over the weekend,” Middleton wrote. “That said, we are unaware of any viable threat to the Cienega campus, our Cienega students or our Cienega staff.”
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said it was aware of the “heightened tensions and potential threats” at the school adding that it would have additional officers on site for the rest of the week and as needed. “The safety of students, staff, and our community remains our top priority,” says Angelica Carrillo, communications manager for the department. “We take all threats seriously and encourage anyone who sees something to say something.”
