UPDATED OCT. 5 — Fayetteville police have charged a 14-year-old Fayette County High School male with making terroristic threats in connection with the shooting threat made earlier Tuesday at high school.
Fayetteville police later in the afternoon said the juvenile student involved had been Identified and was being questioned by school staff and administrators.
The 14-year-old was subsequently interviewed by police and charged, said department spokesman Jeff Harris.
Harris said the male admitted sending the text, also claiming that he received it from another party and passed it on.
Harris said the investigation is ongoing.
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EARLIER STORY —
Fayetteville police are investigating a threatened shooting in a message received Tuesday afternoon at Fayette County High School. The threat came to the cell phones of some students by way of an AirDrop message. The school instituted the prearranged security protocol — Code Orange — and the day ended without incident.
Fayetteville Police Department spokesman Jeff Harris said the school’s school resource officer was notified by administrators of the message received at approximately 1:50 p.m. about the threatened shooting that was supposed to occur just minutes later at 2 p.m.
Police were notified and sent officers to the school, Harris said, adding that there were no issues for the remainder of the school day and all was quiet.
The school took the prescribed precautions, and the day ended without incident, said Harris.
Harris noted that investigators are working to determine the origin of the threat.
A Tuesday afternoon message from Principal Yolanda Briggs-Johnson on the AirDrop threat came after the threat had been received and law enforcement was immediately notified.
According to apple.com, AirDrop is a feature that lets Macintosh computers and iOS devices that are physically close share files wirelessly with one another.
The message sent from Briggs-Johnson after receiving the threat read:
“Please be advised FCHS is under Code Orange. A threat has been made to the school in the form of an airdrop to students’ cell phones. FCHS has the Fayetteville Police Department on campus working with the school to investigate what has been sent to other students in the building.
“Be advised a Code Orange is when all doors of the school inside and outside are locked with no movement in the building (in or out). Please refrain from coming to the school. FCHS will have a rolling dismissal beginning at 3:45 p.m. today. Additional information will be sent at the conclusion of the investigation.”
Briggs-Johnson in the message said that some school districts have reported fraudulent emails posing as Infinite Campus (the internal communication method used by the school system between teachers, students and parents), adding that Fayette County has not received any notification of this activity happening locally.
Fayette County needs to lower the boom on these disruptive kids. No more “steps” in discipline when threats are made or weapons are brought on campus. The child should immediately face criminal charges and become the parent(s)’ problem to educate (as in no more school attendance)- they can go virtual. Parents may start paying more attention if they realize they have to raise and educate their child by themselves.
It is all fun and games until one of the kids brings a weapon, real or fake, to school and is subsequently shot.
It’s crazy how young children continue to threaten the safety of others so often now. Why go through the risk of losing your life or obtaining jail time for the ¨fun¨ of harming others?
Too many adults listening to children (liberals and radicals) and the children are destroying our house (America).
Mr. Hardy – I take no issue with your warning about the tail wagging the dog (children dictating terms to their parents), but surely you don’t believe this is confined to liberal households. Parental abdication of responsibility pervades the political spectrum.
Well, “Stanger” as always you have a thoughtful response and I’ll bet that you are correct that this is an across the spectrum problem.
I am 16 years old, and was involved in the incident. I was at school that day, so email me if any revisions are requested
Facebook/Twitter/Ticktock are all a danger to the mental development of kids and in fact make immature numb skulls out of most folks who are on these platforms.
Save your kids and yourselves and leave social media.
I know people who are totally trivial individuals because of their addiction to these platforms.
Different perspective: Save your kids and withdraw them from government schools.
Nothing happened?
A school full of kids were traumatized, with hundreds texting their parents “I Love You” when they were unsure if they were going to come home that day.
Love ya, Ben, but this feels a little tone deaf. And I get it, these things are hard to talk about. There are mass shootings every day in this great nation – no other country in the world can (or would want to) compete. But word choice matters.
The letter from the principal yesterday asked parents to discuss the incident with their children and emphasize that sending a threatening message is a violation of the law. All well and good, I suppose, but the vast majority of students would never send a message like that (all of these kids have been drilling for a school shooting since Kindergarten, they have never known a different world). There was not a mention in the letter about acknowledging the fear the students felt or the work being done by counselors, administrators, faculty and others to ensure that the students are safe.
We are doing a major disservice to our children – and really all members of this society – when we treat incidents like this as inevitable and rush past it when it doesn’t end in bloodshed, thoughts and prayers. I’m sure it wasn’t the intention of your headline or the principal’s letter, but it feels like, “well, nobody got shot, ho-hum, you’re fine, this is the way it is now, move along.”
I COMPLETELY agree with you! My son was there and was terrified, but “it was nothing”… he refused to go to school today, and I did not make him. He was trembling so bad, and as soon as I walked in the door from work, he ran and hugged me tighter than he has in a very long time… but nothing happened. It is true that an actual shooter did not enter the building and do anything (“nothing”), but according to my son, it was utter chaos at first. People were yelling, cops swarmed the building, and there was a lot of confusion, and many of the kids were completely terror stricken. We received an email from Mrs. YBJ last night saying the person was found and would not be returning to FCHS. Even though the threat was eliminated (or so we think), my kid was so traumatized (over “nothing”) that he had nightmares last night and as a Senior, is terrified about going back into the building. I highly agree with you odoylerules in that word choice was definitely incorrect, and sensitivity to all 1,000+ families affected must have been on a coffee break when the article was being written!
We will be doing a major disservice to our kids if we don’t make an example out of this 14-year old, prosecute him to the maximum extent, and then also make sure every middle school and high school student in Fayette County know that actions like this come with consequences…..consequences that alter the course of your life and limit your opportunities in the future.