UPDATE. 11:30 P.M. FRIDAY: Add Forsyth County to the areas experiencing bogus school threats this week. The sheriff’s department there revealed late Friday night that two teenagers were arrested this week and charged with Terroristic Threats, a 15-year-old and a 14-year-old. According to the sheriff’s office, when the 15-year-old was asked about the threat, he admitted to the social media post and “stated it was a joke and he thought it was funny.”
ORIGINAL POST. 6:30 P.M. FRIDAY:
The Hall County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) Friday arrested a 13-year-old student after he made
threats in front of his classmates at World Language Academy Middle School, a sheriff’s office spokeswoman said late Friday. This comes less than 24 hours after two students at Hall County schools were arrested in a similar incident.
The latest occurred, B.J. Williams said, around 10:30 a.m. when the student announced he “was going to be the next school shooter.”
He claimed that he had a “mag” in his backpack, Williams said. “Administrators were immediately summoned to the classroom and the student and his property were searched. No weapons were found.”
The HCSO school resource officer on duty placed the student in custody, charging him with
felony terroristic threats and disruption of a public school. The student’s parents were
notified, and he was transported to the Regional Youth Detention Center (RYDC) in
Gainesville.
There were similar incidents reported Friday in Gwinnett, Jackson and Rabun counties.
And the GBI issued a statement Friday afternoon on these cases:
“The public safety community is responding to an increase in school threat reporting following the shooting at Apalachee High School. Law enforcement wants to remind the public that making specific threats on social media will be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
However, school safety hotlines and law enforcement often see increased reporting following a mass shooting incident, as students and the public are more apt to report suspicious activity or concerns. Reposting these online threats can cause undue panic and spread false information. To date, the majority of investigations into threats posted online since the Apalachee High School shooting have been deemed non-credible.
If you see or hear a threat, report it to local law enforcement immediately. Notify authorities but don’t share or forward the threat until law enforcement has had a chance to investigate.