Franklin Co. Student Arrested for Making Threat on Social Media Site

By MJ Kneiser, WLHR Radio, Lavonia

A potentially dangerous situation at Franklin County High School was averted Monday thanks to a concerned student and a quick response by the school and local law enforcement.

According to Franklin County School Superintendent Ruth O’Dell, it started early Monday morning when a student found a threatening post by another student on a social media Web site.

“Before school started, about 7:30a, our assistant superintendent Wayne Randall received a call from 911 saying it had been reported to 911 that a social media site, Kik, had had a threat about shootings at the high school posted on that site, along with pictures and text related to that possible shooting that could take place at the high school,” Dr. O’Dell said Monday.

That student then told their parents and the parents called 911.

O’Dell said as soon as the reported threat came through, the school resource officer and the school administration responded.

“It took about an hour, but the SRO officer and the administrators at the high school, and Mr. Randall and Sandy Bond our safety coordinator had identified the student who posted the threat and had detained the student in the high school office,” O’Dell said.

She went on to say that no other students were involved in the threatening post, but adds that the investigation is continuing.

“They are continuing to interview students who may have received some of these texts, but so far no other students appear to have been involved in any sort of planning or anything like that,” O’Dell said. “However, we are going to keep on investigating until we are completely confident in that.”

Meanwhile, Franklin County Sheriff Stevie Thomas said the student has been charged with terroristic threats and acts.

Because the student is a juvenile, no other information on the their identity is being released.

Dr. O’Dell said she is grateful to the prompt and efficient work on the part of law enforcement and school officials that prevented what could have been a major tragedy.

“I have to say publicly how much we appreciate the support of the our local emergency 911 folks and our law enforcement personnel and the fact that we have SRO officers,” she said. “I also want to commend the student who reported those threats and told their parents as well as the parents who took the threat seriously enough to call 911. This is the kind of teamwork that we need in order to keep our kids safe in the kind of world we live in today.”

No other information on why the student made the threats on social media is being released.