A student at Columbus High School is being charged with cyberstalking after posting on Facebook over the weekend that he planned to shoot a firearm at the school Monday.
The student will face the charge in Lowndes County Youth Court, meaning the case will not be public and his name will not be released to the public. However, Columbus Police Chief Fred Shelton confirmed the student is between 14 and 15 years old.
The post, which appeared Sunday afternoon, included a photo of a shirtless male and said: “… just be at school tomorrow and yall better take cover in that b**** im takeing a gun to school tomorrow and i put that ong….”
The post began circulating social media immediately and multiple people contacted Columbus Police Department, said Shelton. CPD had the student in custody by Sunday evening.
The threatening post has since been removed from Facebook.
Cherie Labat, superintendent for Columbus Municipal School District, said the student may face discipline from the school, but declined to go into specifics.
“High school administration is in the process of doing the investigation,” she said. “We can’t tell you the consequences, just that it’s under investigation.”
Labat also didn’t want to speculate on the reason the student made the threat, but she didn’t think it was just a joke to get out of class.
“I think that kids know, from what happens nationally, the severity of making a threat to anyone publicly in that manner,” she said. “I don’t feel like this was a way to get out of school because we are way past that nationally.”
She said the schools have programs in place to ensure teachers and administrators are talking with students about violence and behavioral expectations so they know what is and isn’t appropriate.
“There’s no socioeconomic status or criteria why a person would have a will to make a threat like that,” she said. “That’s the hardest part about managing a situation like this, because you never know.”
Dispatch reporter Mary Pollitz contributed to this report.
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