Online threat prompts law enforcement response at Calhoun County schools; residents question protocol

EDISON – State and local law enforcement agencies here responded to an online post of a school shooting threat they believed to be directed at Calhoun County Middle and High School.

The post, which spread across social media Sunday, read “Calhoun Middle/High School is on the list to get shot up, tell your parents ASAP.” School officials and local law enforcement became concerned, but upon further investigation involving the GBI, Calhoun County Sheriff Josh Hilton said the threat was made in reference to schools in the city of Calhoun.

Still, the school and law enforcement took precautions. Hilton said about 20 law enforcement officers from the Sheriff’s Department, Edison Police Department, Georgia State Patrol and the Calhoun County School System Police showed up as students arrived at school Monday. Hilton said they kept officers in and out of the school to maintain a presence throughout the day.

Calhoun County High Principal Tonya Robinson said the school went on a “soft lockdown,” which she called a “code yellow” precaution. School went on as usual, with the added law enforcement presence.

“We just wanted to make sure everybody was safe 100%,” Robinson said.

Calhoun County School District is not the only south Georgia school district that responded to a shooting threat in the last week after the deadly shooting at Apalachee High School, a shooting that killed four people and injured nine in Winder.

A 13-year-old was arrested by the GBI in connection to online shooting threats made at Brooks County Middle School on Sept. 5. On Friday, threats were made toward Valdosta Middle School and Crisp County High School. A 17-year-old was arrested on terroristic threats and acts in regard to the Crisp High School threat, and an 11-year-old was arrested on the same charge in connection to the threats made in Valdosta.

Other school districts began investigations into online threats made over the weekend, including Colquitt, Cook, Dougherty, Grady, Mitchell, Tift and Worth counties.

Officials with the Dougherty County School System released the following statement: “The district is aware of a threat circulating around the state on social media. It appears that the schools mentioned were extracted from a list of Title 1 schools on the GaDOE website. Although we believe this to be a hoax, out of an abundance of caution, we are placing all schools on a soft lockdown posture until the posts are investigated thoroughly. The safety and security of our students, employees and guests is our No. 1 priority.”

Not only did law enforcement in Calhoun County secure Calhoun Middle and High School but also the Pataula Charter Academy across the street, Edison Police Chief Donald Bryant said during Edison’s City Council Meeting Monday. He said law enforcement agency response was quick and smooth.

School returned to business as usual, Tuesday. However, Edison resident Janice General questioned the protocol for a real shooting threat, during the City Council meeting.

“Do you all have a plan going forward?” she said. “I think every city or Board of Education should have a plan in place.”

General said the issue is now “close to home” after the north Georgia shooting.

Edison Financial Director Lori Moore said Monday that county Emergency Management Agencies have emergency plans for disasters like shootings, hurricanes or tornadoes.

However, Calhoun County EMA Director Richard Martin said he wasn’t notified about the potential threat. He said EMA directors are supposed to be notified when an emergency happens at school.

“Technically the EMA directors have been put over the school systems through GEMA to keep them updated and notified on any incident,” Martin said. “When I’m not notified about anything, I can’t notify anybody else.”

He said the county’s schools are aware that EMA is supposed to be notified. He said there have been other threats made to the county schools that he should’ve been contacted about but instead found out through social media

As the EMA director, Martin said he’s responsible for contacting outside resources in the case of an emergency.

“If they needed a SWAT team or something like that to be brought in, I can send this up to the folks above me with GEMA and make it happen,” he said. “That’s my job.”

Martin also said GEMA offers active-shooter response training for different emergency response teams and law enforcement agencies to participate in.

“As far as I know, nobody’s been through those classes in this county,” he said. “We all need to be ready to respond if there is an active shooter in the schools.”

If anyone has attended the classes, it hasn’t been communicated with the county EMA, Martin said.

Hilton said the Sheriff’s Department undergoes active-shooter response training at least once a year through the Georgia Public Safety Training Center. But he said the city is responsible for calling agencies to respond to threats like this.

Robinson said Calhoun County High School undergoes active-shooter drills, which prepare them to make the necessary calls regarding a threat.

“We have our protocols in place where we alert the property authorities, and we do … a ‘code red’ lockdown, should that happen, so that everybody can be safe,” she said.

Robinson said the superintendent’s office and Sheriff’s Department made the necessary calls for GEMA and the GBI. She said the safety of both students and staff was prioritized. She added that the school has “zero tolerance” for students who make threats toward the school.

“We take that very seriously, and that student would be dealt with accordingly,” she said.

Hilton called the situation “a scary thing.”

“We hope it never happens, but you just never know,” he said. “We try to be prepared, but I don’t know how prepared you can really be for something like that.”

Hilton said any person who makes a threat toward the school will be charged and held accountable.

“Even if they do it as a joke … we don’t take anything like that jokingly,” he said. “We will track them down and charge them.”

Staff Photo: Lucille Lannigan
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Staff Photo: Lucille Lannigan[email protected]